Vitamin B6 Essential for the Immune System
Vitamin
B6 is one of the most important vitamins for the body. This
water-soluble vitamin comes in pyridoxine, pyridoxal and
pyridoxamine chemical forms and is essential for your body’s
health. Vitamin B6 is involved in your system’s protein
metabolism, red blood cell metabolism and nervous system.
Vitamin B6 and your immune system are also linked.
Vitamin B6 and your immune system are linked because of
the vitamin’s involvement with protein metabolism
and cellular growth. Vitamins, as well as protein, calories
and minerals, are key to a healthy immune system because
they’re involved in the growth of white blood cells
which fight off infections. Vitamin B6 helps your immune
system keep the spleen, lymph nodes and thymus healthy;
these organs, in turn, make your white blood cells.
Studies have shown that if your body has a vitamin B6 deficiency,
your immune system will suffer. It will decrease your body’s
antibody production and restrain your immune system’s
response. In order to keep a healthy immune system, vitamin
B6 should be in your diet. Men and women who are less than
50 years old should consume 1.3 milligrams a day, while
men over 50 years of age should take 1.7 milligrams and
women over the age of 50 should take 1.5 milligrams a day.
It is easy to consume foods with vitamin B6 to keep your
immune system healthy, not to mention the rest of your body.
Foods that contain vitamin B6 are:
- Baked
potato
- Banana
- Chicken
breast
- Oatmeal
- Rainbow
trout
- Raw
avocado
- Canned
tuna
- Peanut
butter
Eating
these foods on a daily basis will help you reach your required
vitamin B6 intake as well as maintain a healthy immune system.
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