Does vitamin B6 help PMS?
Probably a little, but the trials are weak. A review of 9 trials with 940 women found more improvement in premenstrual symptoms on B6 than on placebo, though most of the trials were of low quality. The single trials linked here disagree with each other.
What the studies found
“Results suggest that doses of vitamin B-6 up to 100 mg/day are likely to be of benefit in treating premenstrual symptoms and premenstrual depression.”
“Conclusions are limited by the low quality of most of the trials included.”
“improvement as measured by global assessment after three cycles was significantly greater in the patients treated with pyridoxine (p less than 0.02).”
“Vitamin B-6 was no better than placebo.”
The details
- What the trials used
- Up to 100 mg a day in the review; 50 to 150 mg a day for 2 to 3 months in the single trials that give a dose. These are the doses studied, not advice on what to take.
- Who was studied
- Women with premenstrual symptoms or premenstrual syndrome (moderate to severe in two of the trials).
Safety note. One trial used 150 mg a day, above the US adult upper limit of 100 mg, and its authors urged caution because of reports of toxic effects. The EU's adult limit is lower still, at 12 mg a day. Check your B6 total against the limits.
Before you try it
If you take any medicine or have a health condition, ask a pharmacist or doctor before adding a supplement. This page doesn’t link to any product.
How we checked this
This answer comes from one finding on our site, and that finding has been re-checked: each linked study was confirmed on PubMed and read against the finding’s grade, direction and study count. We then read every abstract ourselves on 7 November 2026 and wrote the answer from them, then checked it against recent reviews; the quotes above are copied word for word. If the finding changes, this answer is hidden until it is checked again. How we grade.