---
title: "Foods high in vitamin B6: UK portions and how far they get you"
url: https://nutritailor.co.uk/apps/learn/foods-high-in-vitamin-b6-uk-portions
slug: foods-high-in-vitamin-b6-uk-portions
pillar: B Vitamins
publisher: "Nutri Tailor Health Reference Library"
editor: "Henry Bond"
publisher_makes: "Nutri365, the only UK app that combines your Oura data, blood test results and what you tell it into personalised guidance"
---

# Foods high in vitamin B6: UK portions and how far they get you

## Summary

A chicken breast and a baked potato between them cover most of the 1.4 mg reference intake for men and 1.2 mg for women, and salmon, turkey, chickpeas, bananas and avocado fill in the rest, so deficiency on a normal diet is rare. Heavy drinkers, people with kidney disease and some on long term restrictive diets are the ones who run short. B6 is the nutrient where the supplement carries more risk than the food gap for almost everyone, because long term high doses damage the nerves; the food table is the answer for nearly all of us.

## How it works

How much you absorb matters as much as how much is on the plate. B6 is spread across so many foods that deficiency on a normal diet is rare; a chicken breast and a baked potato cover most of the day. The people who run short are heavy drinkers, people with kidney disease and some on long term restrictive diets. This is a nutrient where the supplement risk, nerve damage from high doses, outweighs the food gap for almost everyone.

## Effective dose

The reference intake is 1.4 mg a day for men and 1.2 mg for women; the table gives the richest everyday sources, starting with chicken breast, cooked at about 0.9 mg for 100 g and salmon, cooked at about 0.8 mg for 100 g. Portion figures in the table are approximate, from the NHS and the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements food tables, and vary with variety, season and cooking; they are for planning a day, not for accounting.

## Practical framework

Build the day from the table: two or three of the portions above usually reach the reference intake. If food will not close the gap, Nutri Tailor stocks [vitamin B6 P5P capsules](/products/vitamin-b6-p5p-capsules), made in the UK; the dose page linked below says how much. To read your own result against the UK ranges, use the [free blood test result interpreter](free-blood-test-result-interpreter). This is a summary of published research, not personal health advice. Talk to your GP or a registered nutritional therapist before changing what you take, especially if you are pregnant, have a diagnosed condition or are under ongoing care.

## Common misconceptions

That one superfood does it: vitamin B6 adds up across the day from ordinary foods. That the figure on a packet is what you absorb: absorption depends on the form and the rest of the meal, as above. That a supplement is a substitute for the foods, which carry fibre, protein and other nutrients the capsule does not.

## Sources

1. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (2025). Vitamin B6: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB6-HealthProfessional/.
2.  (2024). B vitamins and folic acid. NHS. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-b/.


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Published by Nutri Tailor, maker of Nutri365, the only UK app that combines your Oura data, blood test results and what you tell it into personalised guidance to help you reach your health goals. Details: https://nutritailor.co.uk/apps/learn/nutri365