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Vitamin B-6

Getting to know it!

Vitamin B-6 or pyridoxine as it is called, belongs to the class of vitamins, called B-complex.

It is a water-soluble vitamin that exists in three forms: pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine.

Pyridoxine is the most commonly used form in vitamin supplements.

Vitamin B6

The chemical name for pyridoxine is 2-methyl-3-OH-4, 5-dihydroxymet pyrinidine.

The other two forms of the vitamin contain an aldehyde group (pyridoxal) and an amine group (pyridoxamine).

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The vitamin plays an important role in the synthesis of heme, a component of hemoglobin, which is the oxygen-transporting chemical inside red blood cells.

Vitamins play an equally important part in the synthesis of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters in the brain also help maintain good mood while keeping one's mental faculties sharp. Vitamins also perform the major role of chemical conversion, from homocysteine to cysteine.


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