Dozens of Australians are experiencing life-changing health problems due to vitamin B6 toxicity from supplements. This report investigates the trend and calls for stricter regulations on the sale and labelling of vitamin B6 supplements.
Dozens of people across Australia have shared their experiences of vitamin B6 toxicity with 7.30. The TGA says it is considering a proposal to tighten regulations, including changes to where and how B6 vitamins are sold. A health practitioner, a businessman, an award-winning musician, a retiree, and a pregnant woman are among the growing list of Australians who have been poisoned by the synthetic form of vitamin B6.
There are at least 121 confirmed cases in which it has caused life-changing issues for those who have taken it regularly, Australia's medicines regulator has said. \'My sense is that clinical B6 toxicity is under-reported,' said GP and dietitian Terri-Lynne South, who has noticed a rise in the number of cases aligned with the increasing popularity of dietary supplements. 'Some of the toxicities we see are not because a person is taking a single excessive dose of B6 in a single supplement, but multiple supplements with B6, and that contributes to a cumulative dose,' she said. 'People might be aware a multivitamin supplement could have B6 in it, but I think it would surprise them that something labelled as a magnesium supplement, for example, also has B6 in it.' Her career as an award-winning singer-songwriter was put on hold after accidentally poisoning herself with B6. 'My legs went numb and I began getting numbness all the way up the top of my body, right to my neck,' she told 7.30. 'There were times in bed that I actually couldn't move, I became paralysed, literally paralysed — I actually thought I was dying.' She didn't realise many of them contained B6 and feels the warnings on the labels weren't clear enough. Ms McInerney is one of dozens of people who reached out to the ABC, detailing the pain and misery they have suffered from vitamin toxicity, 'It was protein shakes, and it was also other vitamins,' she told 7.30. 'I started to lose weight and I thought I was feeling great, but this cramping and funny sensation in my legs started to get worse and worse.' \Like many others 7.30 spoke to, she had developed peripheral neuropathy — a condition that damages the nerve endings in limbs, with the worst cases considered irreparable. In Australia, the daily recommended intake for B6 is 1.3 to 1.7 mg for adults. Most people who have a balanced diet consume enough of the vitamin in its natural form through a variety of foods including meats, fish, vegetables and cereals. But like many other vitamins, B6 is also manufactured in a lab. The synthetic is added to thousands of products in Australia, including medicines, multivitamin and mineral supplements, energy drinks and weight loss shakes. B6 is often listed on labels as pyridoxine, pyridoxal or pyridoxamine. Some supplements available in stores contain quantities up to 200mg. Associate Professor Joanna Harnett, a complementary medicines researcher and an adviser to Australia's medicines regulator the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), told 7.30 that B6 is added to medicines to help metabolise other minerals, including magnesium and zinc. 'When we exceed the amount that is required for that, we can overwhelm the body's normal metabolic processes, and it's in that overwhelming phase that we see the toxic effects, particularly with regular, high-dose consumption over a longer period of time,' Associate Professor Harnett said. 'There isn't any concern around the normal doses that you would obtain from a balanced diet for vitamin B6, the concerns are purely related to supplemental forms.' \In 2020, as the COVID pandemic took off, businessman Paul Torrisi wanted to boost his immunity and turned to supplements. He didn't realise he was taking too much B6. 'I was taking a men's multivitamin — just one a day. I was also taking zinc plus and a magnesium , and the zinc plus is vitamin B6 again,' he told 7.30. 'I was getting burning sensations, tingling, pins and needles,' Mr Torrisi told 7.30. 'I ended up with a lot of muscle loss over time. My skin would ripple like a wave, going through my legs and arms, it was sort of spontaneously firing muscles and twitching,' he said. Kellie Marie Donnelly found herself in a similar predicament, diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy in the middle of 2023. 'I couldn't work for 12 months, I lost heaps of weight, lost my hair, it was just horrendous,' she told 7.30, conceding she had 'no awareness' of what she was putting into her body. 'I was taking a Multi-B, high-dose magnesium, also a multivitamin, plus eating lots of high B6 foods. Bill Piggott AM is a retired physician who worked for the World Health Organization. He explained how he felt 'embarrassed' after developing peripheral neuropathy symptoms from vitamin supplements. 'I think I was embarrassed that I, as a medical person, had not done due diligence on what I was taking,' Dr Piggott told 7.30. 'I just believe that if it was a water-soluble vitamin and I was taking too much, I would pee it out, but I retained it', he said.
VITAMIN B6 TOXICITY AUSTRALIA SUPPLEMENTS HEALTH REGULATIONS PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY
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