Vitamin B6 on Your Low-Carb Diet by Dana Carpender

When I was just a baby nutrition buff, back in the 1980s, there was a lot of buzz about vitamin B6. There was a popular “lecithin/kelp/B6/cider vinegar” diet, claiming that the combination of these substances would magically melt away fat. Too, there was coverage in the popular press of the fact that vitamin B6 can act as a diuretic – a “water pill.” Women started gulping ridiculous doses of just this one vitamin, and predictably the results were not good.

Turns out that serious overdoses of B6 can cause temporary deadening of the proprioceptive nerves – the nerves that tell our bodies where they’re located in space. Talk about your out-of-body experience! I’m sure it was a scary experience, though fortunately, it was reversible when the supplements were discontinued, or even just reduced to normal levels.

This was a lesson to me in balance and reason – after all, the doses that caused the problem were generally over two grams a day. Since the recommended intake of vitamin B6 is 2 mg. daily, those people were literally taking 100,000% of the recommended dose. Can you say “overkill?” Still, it’s reassuring that people had to take so much more than needed before any ill effect set in.

This cautionary tale aside, vitamin B6 is essential to many body processes. Vitamin B6 deficiency was first discovered to cause skin problems, including eczema and seborrheic dermatitis. Lesser deficiencies may contribute to acne. Because B6 is needed for your body to utilize vitamin B12, which in turn is needed for healthy red blood count, a deficiency of B6 can cause anemia.

B6 deficiency can also interfere with your body’s ability to process glucose. Studies have shown lower fasting blood sugar levels in diabetics given B6 supplements than in those who didn’t get the vitamin. This effect on blood sugar also means that B6 deficiency can cause weight gain.

Like all the B vitamins (and many others,) B6 is essential for mental health, with deficiencies causing depression, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, and a loss of libido. This last is particularly ironic when you realize that birth control pills increase the body’s demand for B6, as do other hormonal forms of birth control, like the patch and the vaginal ring. Demand for B6 also increases during pregnancy, and doctors often recommend B6 supplements to reduce morning sickness.

Along with mental and emotional symptoms, B6 deficiency can play a role in nervous problems, from carpal tunnel syndrome to diabetic neuropathy to epilepsy. An odd nervous system effect of B6 supplementation can be the stimulation of vivid dreams and greater dream recall.

B6 deficiency can also contribute to atherosclerosis and hypertension.

Are you convinced yet? Then let’s get to the part about how you can get enough B6.

Good sources of vitamin B6 include poultry, pork, and beef. Liver is a fantastic source, but then, it’s a great source of almost everything. Avocados, spinach, garlic, walnuts, sunflower seeds, tuna, salmon, cod, and halibut, green pepper, cabbage, broccoli, and brussels sprouts, even the spices turmeric, ginger, chili powder, are among the good low carb sources of B6.

Remember that long cooking, canning, and freezing all can reduce the vitamin B6 content of foods, and eat extra B6-rich foods.

This chili gets B6 from beef, tomato sauce, even from the chili powder! Chili takes long, slow cooking, so make it some rainy Saturday when you’re puttering around the house. You’ll be glad you did!

Blinky’s Low-Carb Texas Red Recipe

I understand that the tomatoes and tomato sauce mean this isn’t really authentic Texas Red, but that’s what my cyberpal Blinky called it, and it’s mighty tasty, so here it is.

• 2 pounds boneless beef round, cubed
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 14 ounces canned tomatoes with green chiles
• 8 ounces tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 cup chopped jalapeno peppers, fresh or jarred

Cut your beef into 1/2″ chunks. Put a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the olive oil, then throw in the beef chunks to brown. When they’re about half-way browned, throw in the onion as well. Remember to stir this from time to time!

You’ll find that liquid starts to accumulate in the Dutch oven – do not pour this off! It’s essential to the fabulous flavor of this chili. When the pink is gone from your beef, add everything else.

Turn your burner to low, and let the whole thing simmer for a couple of hours. Serve with all the usual chili fixin’s.

6 Servings, each with: 388 Calories; 24g Fat; 33g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; 2g Fiber; 7g usable carbs. You’ll get 45% of your daily requirement of B6, too.

(Reprinted by permission from The Every Calorie Counts Cookbook by Dana Carpender, 2006, Fair Winds Press.)

© 2011 by Dana Carpender. Used by permission of the author. What do you think? Please send Dana your comments to Dana Carpender.