Long-term Dangers of Excessive B6 and B12

[RockyPath]

A long-term observational study of 75,864 women over 30 years suggests that the amount of B6 and B12 in most supplements contributed to a higher incidence of hip fractures. It notes that the recommended intake of B6 is 1.5 milligrams and B12 is 2.4 micrograms. Most supplements contain significant multiples of the recommended intake. After comparing and eliminating other medical, dietary and behavior characteristics, the study found consumption such supplements to be a common factor among women who suffered hip fractures.

The study is reported in the New York Times at this link: nyti.ms/2YMqGXU

The entire report is at jamanetwork.com/journals/ja...

[Angel_of_the_North]

Hmm. Self-administered questionnaire in which people reported what they are int eh previous year ??? Accurately - I doubt it! Did people take high dose B12 because they were starting to have neurological symptoms (or B6 because they were told it helped with depression) or because they had PA? We don't know. Did the high supplmenters already feel bad (thyroid or adrenal problems?), which is why they took more vitamins. We don't know? Too much B6 unbalanced by other B vits can cause neurological symptoms which we might then take B12 to counteract, but the study didn't seem to explore that. However, it does show that you are better off getting fat after menopause

[silverfox7 in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

As I understand it you can't overdose on B12. It is water soluble and any you don't need gets flushed down the loo.

[bantam12 in reply to silverfox7]

I've been reading up on B12 as my levels are high although I've never taken supplements, anyways apparently high doses and high levels through supplementing can have negative effects.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to silverfox7]

Well, the study implies that there is a correlation with hip fractures if you are not fat, but perhaps it was the reason for taking the supplements, not the supplements themselves

[Clarrisa]

I did not read this study but the topic brought back to mind a early experience working on a long term care ward. The doctor decided he could no longer help a patient so he ordered stopping all of his daily medication (patient was on quite a few). Guess what happened, he immediately got better!

I am willing to bet that if the use of more drugs were studied taken together, many such interesting discoveries would be made.