B6 & CVD

B6 Deficit Tied to CV Disease Risk

By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Published: June 28, 2012

Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner

Action Points

• This study found lower levels of pyridoxal-5-phosphate, a marker of vitamin B-6, associated with an increased overall inflammation score based upon 13 individual inflammatory markers in a community-based cohort.
• Point out that the same associations with overall inflammation were not seen with other B vitamins, namely plasma folate or vitamin B12.

Low levels of vitamin B6 may play a role in the chronic inflammation that contributes to cardiovascular disease and other common conditions, researchers found.

The top scorers across a panel of inflammatory markers had significantly lower levels of pyridoxal-5-phosphate (PLP) as a plasma marker of vitamin B6 status than the least inflamed individuals in an analysis of the Framingham Offspring cohort study (61 nmol/L versus 80 nmol/L, P<0.0001 for trend)./.../