Vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine, is one of the vitamins that helps your overall hair condition and reduces hair loss while assisting your body in the production of red blood cells.
Red blood cells work with iron to carry oxygen and nutrients to the scalp and hair follicles so they can grow healthy, strong hair. And studies like this one have shown a positive response with follicle density and health from vitamin B6.
Vitamin B6 also helps with the metabolism of amino acids and assists your body with breaking down proteins so your body can produce keratin, the protein that your hair is made of. There’s even a patent that shows when B6 is applied topically to the scalp it grows larger hair bulbs increasing diameter, strength and body.
This is why B6 has been studied for people that suffer from diffuse alopecia (hair thinning) or who have seen their hair growing at a slower pace.
Diffuse alopecia affects up to 50% of men and women, and Vitamin B6 has been known to help reduce the effects while promoting hair growth along with other B vitamins like Biotin and Folate.
Another common form of hair loss is androgenetic alopecia (AGA) which impacts 80% of Caucasian men and 50% of Caucasian women and this study by the Nigerian Journal of Medicine showed it occurs five times more often in men than women and roughly 29.95% of the population, making it the most common hair loss issue.
Vitamin B6 helps to regulate the levels of homocysteine in your blood and break it down with B12 and folate. And this is important because there is a belief that AGA may have a relationship with coronary heart disease and homocysteine is a known risk factor. Unfortunately our bodies cannot make B6, so we have to get it through foods or supplements.
For most adults, the recommended daily allowance (RDA) is about 1.3 to 2.0 mg per day.
- Adults (19-50 years) - 1.3 mg/day for both men and women
- Adults over 50 years - 1.7 mg/day for men, 1.5 mg/day for women
- Pregnant and breastfeeding women - 1.9 to 2.0 mg/day
Vitamin B6 can be taken in liquid or pill format, or consumed with everyday foods. Just make sure you talk to your doctor first as hair loss and thinning could be from a different cause, and they’ll be able to recommend if B6 will be effective for yours.
If you don’t feel like taking a supplement, no problem. Slice some bananas over your morning oatmeal or add it to your breakfast smoothie. Snacking on hummus made from chickpeas will give you a nice dosage. Try mixing up traditional recipes to do a salmon and spinach lasagna or whole grain pasta dish for dinner.
Vitamin B6 is a hair healthy vitamin that is easy to incorporate into your diet naturally or through supplements. It works to help with both hair loss and hair growth, as well as producing red blood cells so your scalp can get the oxygen it needs to breathe. If you found this guide to hair nutrition helpful, join our newsletter below and we’ll email you more just like it.
