Vitamin B6 is also known as pyridoxine and is water soluble. It can be found in yeast, whole grains, legumes, liver, eggs, cereal, meat and fish.
All the vitamins work together to keep a body healthy, but vitamin B6 goes one step beyond. It helps with fertility.
Vitamin B6 Lengthens the Luteal Phase
Vitamin B6’s main role as a fertility vitamin is to treat the luteal phase defect. A luteal phase defect is one of the most easily treated causes of infertility. (As an added bonus, B6 also helps with PMS. See Web MD for an in-depth article about treating PMS naturally.)
A luteal phase defect is when the luteal phase (the time from ovulation to menstruation) is less than 10 days. Ideally, the luteal phase would be 11-16 days. A luteal phase that is too short cannot maintain a pregnancy, usually resulting in miscarriage if measures aren’t taken to lengthen the luteal phase.
You can detect a luteal phase defect by charting your basal body temperatures. This may take a month or two to figure out, but it is worthwhile in determining if there is indeed a luteal phase problem. See Charting Basics to learn how to chart your basal temperature. If you detect a luteal phase defect, one way to lengthen the luteal phase is with progesterone supplements, and another way is with vitamin B6.
Amount of Vitamin B6 to Take
Very few multivitamins have a sufficient amount of vitamin B6 in each dose, because the RDA dosage of 2.5 mg is much lower than required to increase fertility. Check the labels to make sure there is a sufficient amount of vitamin B6. Look for B-complex vitamins, which will have higher amounts of B6.
Some sources recommend taking 100-200 mg of vitamin B6 a day to help with luteal phase defects. It may be smarter to start out with smaller doses and increase it if it doesn’t work. Always check with your practitioner or doctor before taking megadoses of any vitamin.
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