B6 and phenols. Finally, an explanation!

Enzyme Stuff discussion on excessive B vitamins

Sometimes parents are advised to give very excessively high doses of B6 for their children with autism spectrum conditions. However, experience shows that many children have very terrible reactions to supplements with excessively high doses of B6. The ARI information from over several decades also shows that the majority of people with autism do not benefit from high B6 vitamin supplements although some do. A high does is about 50 mg, a very high dose 100 mg, and excessively high often way over that. While some B6 as well as other basic vitamins are beneficial, excessive amounts may be too much neuro- stimulant particularly for neurologically sensitive people. It is important to check with a qualified medical doctor for your situation when taking anything over the Recommended Daily Allowance of anything.

Why so many negative reactions and why might some do okay with it? For one thing, most all sources agree that B vitamins work as a team together and should be taken in the proper ratios - a balance of B vitamins. Taking an excessive amount of just one or two individual vitamins in the B family can cause deficiencies in other B vitamins. So you might just be trading one problem for another.

Another problem is that many synthetically made B6 vitamins may be made from coal-tar. Coal-tar derived synthetics include artificial colorings and flavorings. So if someone has a sulfate processing problem, or is sensitive to artificial additives of this nature, or doesn't tolerate phenolic compounds or artificial additives, then they may very likely not tolerate B6 vitamins if they are synthetically derived. If you are not tolerating B vitamins, you might want to look at a non- synthetic source of nutrients. More information and several non-synthetic formulations are at the link below. In the middle of this page are some links that go to research showing why taking lots of synthetic supplements is not always the most healthful, and you might want to try getting as much nutrition from natural sources as possible. Nutrition and enzymes (general diet strategies)