This blog post will walk you through: vitamin b6 blood test range.
Reference Range
Vitamin B6 deficiency causes blood, skin, and nerve changes. This vitamin is unique in that either deficiency or excess can cause peripheral neuropathy. Pyridoxal kinase phosphorylates pyridoxine and pyridoxamine, after which they are converted to PLP, a coenzyme in tryptophan and methionine metabolism.
Plp is the primary active pyridoxal form, and serum PLP is used as the primary index of whole-body pyridoxal levels. Hypophosphatasia is a rare inborn error of metabolism caused by low activity of the tissue-nonspecific isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP). Alterations in the TNSALP gene lead to rickets, osteomalacia, or both.
What Does It Mean If Your Vitamin B6 Result Is Too Low?
In over 100 different enzymatic reactions in the body. The vitamin is also important for the synthesis of serotonin and dopamine. A vitamin B6 blood test helps determine whether or not someone is deficient in the vitamin, or has high levels.
Normal Ranges for Vitamin B6 in mcg/L:
Adults: 5-50 mcg/L
Critical Range: <5 or >50 mcg/L
Source.
Description
The body uses it to help break down proteins. High levels of vitamin B6 can cause neurological disorders and numbness.
Major sources of vitamin B6 include:
Cereal grains and flour
Vegetables like peas, spinach, and carrots
Seeds and nuts
Legumes
Potatoes
Milk and cheeses
Fish, meat and eggs
Liver
Deficiency of vitamin B6 has been implicated in a wide variety of clinical conditions. Important in neonatology, it is the syndrome of jittery characteristics, irritability, easy startling, colic, and seizures due to B6 deficiency following ingestion of formula rendered B6 depleted by excessive heating. B6 may be decreased with inflammatory disease of the small bowel and malabsorption and, in some cases, of a jejunoileal bypass.
Vitamin B6 deficiency can be more prevalent in people who:.
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Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in many foods, added to others, and available as a dietary supplement. It is absorbed in the jejunum.
The six compounds include pyridoxine, pyridoxal, pyridoxamine and their respective 5’-phosphate esters. Pyridoxal-5-phosphate and pyridoxamine-5-phosphate are cofactors in more than 100 enzyme reactions. People with alcoholism tend to have low levels.
Some antiepileptic drugs, including valproic acid (Depakene®, Stavzor®), carbamazepine (Carbatrol®, Epitol®, Tegretol®, and others), and phenytoin (Dilantin®) increase the catabolism rate of vitamin B6 vitamers, resulting in low plasma PLP concentrations. Other medications that may reduce the levels of vitamin B6 include: cycloserine, isoniazid, hydralazine, penicillamine, theophylline, pyrazinamide, levodopa, and carbidopa. The primary reason for ordering vitamin B6 is to diagnose pyridoxine deficiency, which has been associated with microcytic hypochromic anemia, dermatitis, neuritis, stomatitis and cheliosis.
Chronic B6 deficiency can lead to secondary hyperoxaluria and an increased risk of kidney stones. Markedly elevated levels of pyridoxal-5-phosphate are observed in hypophosphatasia, a disorder characterized by skeletal deformaties and llow alkaline phosphatase levels. Pyridoxal-5-phosphate is the vitamer that is measured in serum or plasma to determine vitamin B6 level.