A man who took too many high-dose B vitamins loses ability to walk

An Australian man lost the ability to walk after taking 70 times the recommended daily dose of vitamin B6.

According to his daughter, Alison Taylor, the 86-year-old had been living independently when a blood test revealed he was low in vitamin B6, resulting in his doctor prescribing a 50-milligram supplement.

Taylor told ABC radio in Melbourne her dad started losing feeling in his legs. He was admitted to a hospital after losing the ability to walk, where he was then diagnosed with vitamin B6 toxicity.

Vitamin B6 is important to help the body absorb nutrients from foods and, according to the Mayo Clinic, is important for normal brain development and for keeping the nervous system and immune system healthy. It is found in fish, bananas and potatoes.

However, the daily dose for vitamin B6 is 1.7 milligrams for men over 50 and his 50-milligram dose coupled with him also taking a magnesium supplement — which contained 50 milligrams of B6 — and eating breakfast cereals fortified with B6, resulted in him consuming 70 times more than the recommended dose.

According to Mount Sinai, doses higher than 200 milligrams of vitamin B6 can cause neurological disorders, including a loss of feeling to the legs due nerve damage. The website notes “stopping high doses usually leads to a complete recovery within 6 months,” but it’s still too soon to tell if that will be the case for the elderly man.

Vitamin B6 toxicity is typically rare as excess B vitamins are generally flushed out by the body through urination. But taking high amounts of the vitamin over the long term could lead to it.

Taylor told ABC it’s still unclear if her father will make a full recovery but is hoping physical therapy will help him move without using his wheelchair as much.

Overdosing on vitamins can have serious consequences. In July, a UK man was hospitalized for a vitamin D overdose which saw him unwell for months, including vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, dry mouth, ringing in the ears and leg cramps.

The man had reportedly started taking more than 20 over-the-counter supplements after meeting with a private nutritionist, which is over 200 times the recommended amount in the US.