Vitamin B₆ supplementation in pregnant women with nausea and vomiting.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether supplementation with vitamin B(6) improves nausea and/or vomiting in pregnancy.

METHODS

This experimental study was conducted with 60 pregnant women experiencing nausea and/or vomiting prior to the 12th gestational week. Of these women, 30 were treated daily with 10mg and the remaining 30 with 1.28 mg of pyridoxine hydrochloride for 2 weeks. The primary outcome was the Pregnancy-Unique Quantification of Emesis and Nausea (PUQE) score in each group at the end of treatment.

RESULTS

The women experiencing nausea and/or vomiting in pregnancy had significantly lower levels of circulating vitamin B(6) (P=0.007) compared with those without this symptom. Vitamin B(6) supplementation significantly increased plasma vitamin B(6) concentration (P<0.05 in both groups). There were no significant differences in PUQE score or in plasma concentration levels of protein, dopamine, serotonin, unconjugated estriol, and ghrelin after supplementation between the 2 groups at baseline, but there was a significantly lesser decrease in PUQE score and a greater increase in vitamin B(6) level and vitamin B(6) concentration to plasma protein concentration ratios in group 1 than in group 2 after supplementation (P<0.05 for all).

CONCLUSIONS

Although the high-supplementation group had a greater decrease in PUQE score in comparison to the low-supplementation group, the difference is unlikely to affect the severity of symptoms.