Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin that plays a role in over 100 different reactions in the body, which is why you want to get vitamin B6 foods in your diet. This vitamin is needed to help make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins and hundreds of cellular functions. It can also be used to make niacin (vitamin B3) from the amino acid tryptophan. . . It helps the body maintain a healthy nervous system, makes hemoglobin that carries oxygen in red blood cells throughout the body, provides energy from the food that we eat, acts as a natural pain treatment, boosts mood and also creates antibodies that our immune systems use to protect us.
This vital vitamin can be found in high levels, naturally, in the following 10 vitamin B6 foods (percentages based on 1.3 milligrams daily for adults under 50 years old):
- Turkey Breast — 3 ounces: 0.7 milligrams (53 percent DV)
- Grass-Fed Beef — 3 ounces beef tenderloin: 0.5 milligrams (38 percent DV)
- Pistachios — 1/4 cup: 0.5 milligrams (38 percent DV)
- Tuna — 1 3-ounce can: 0.4 milligrams (30 percent DV)
- Pinto Beans — 1 cup cooked: 0.4 milligrams (30 percent DV)
- Avocado — 1 raw: 0.4 milligrams (30 percent DV)
- Chicken Breast — ½ one breast: 0.3 milligrams (23 percent DV)
- Blackstrap Molasses — 2 tablespoons: 0.26 milligrams (20 percent DV)
- Sunflower Seeds — 1/4 cup: 0.25 milligrams (19 percent DV)
- Sesame Seeds — 1/4 cup: .25 milligrams (19 percent DV)
