Because the evidence behind it is unusually settled. Vitamin B6 has ten health claims that have passed formal scientific assessment — covering psychological function, the reduction of tiredness and fatigue, and the regulation of hormonal activity among others. Very few ingredients in this category have any.

And because 2.1mg is a considered amount rather than a large one. It is 150% of the reference intake, comfortably enough to matter, and well inside the safe ceiling that section 4 explains. Most of what is interesting about this ingredient is about restraint.

Vitamin B6 is not one compound but a small family of closely related ones that the body interconverts. It is water-soluble, which means the body holds only limited reserves and tops them up from what you eat rather than drawing on a large store.

It is widely available in ordinary food — fish, poultry, chickpeas and other pulses, potatoes, bananas and fortified breakfast cereals are among the common sources. Deficiency is uncommon in the UK in people eating a varied diet.

That matters for how you should read the 150% on our panel. A supplement is adding to a dietary intake that is usually already adequate, not filling an empty tank — which is the reasoning behind section 4, and why we treat the upper limit as the number that matters rather than the lower one.

• Vitamin B6 contributes to the regulation of hormonal activity
• Vitamin B6 contributes to normal psychological function
• Vitamin B6 contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue
• Vitamin B6 contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism
• Vitamin B6 contributes to normal functioning of the nervous system
• Vitamin B6 contributes to normal homocysteine metabolism
• Vitamin B6 contributes to normal cysteine synthesis
• Vitamin B6 contributes to normal protein and glycogen metabolism
• Vitamin B6 contributes to normal red blood cell formation
• Vitamin B6 contributes to the normal function of the immune system

These are fixed forms of words, not our description of what B6 does. Each has been through a scientific assessment and may only be used exactly as written. Where you see one of these sentences on our packaging or our site, it will appear exactly as it does above, with nothing added.

They apply from a threshold of 15% of the reference intake — 0.21mg of vitamin B6. We carry ten times that, which is why all ten are available to us. Our pack carries the first: the regulation of hormonal activity.

B6 has a ceiling, unlike most water-soluble vitamins

Vitamin B6 is unusual among the water-soluble vitamins: it has a genuine ceiling. Sustained high intakes have been associated with peripheral neuropathy — nerve damage, typically presenting as numbness or tingling in the hands and feet. It is uncommon, it is usually reversible on stopping, and it is well documented enough that regulators have set limits.

The limits have been tightening

Those limits have been tightening. The European Food Safety Authority re-examined vitamin B6 in 2023 and set a tolerable upper intake level for adults of 12mg a day from all sources, revising the earlier figure downwards. The UK's own expert group has separately advised a guidance level of 10mg a day from supplements.

Belle Balance provides 2.1mg. That is roughly a sixth of the EFSA upper level and a fifth of the UK guidance level, leaving substantial room for whatever else you eat or take.

Worth checking on any label, including ours

This is worth checking on other labels, including ours. Doses of 10mg, 20mg and 50mg are not unusual in supplements aimed at women, and a high number on a panel reads as generosity rather than as what it is. We have not named any product here and we are not going to — but the figure is printed on every pack you own, and it takes ten seconds to look.

We use pyridoxal-5-phosphate (P5P) rather than the cheaper pyridoxine hydrochloride. P5P is the form the body actually uses; pyridoxine has to be converted first.

We think this is a modest advantage and we will not oversell it. The argument for P5P is mainly theoretical — the conversion step is efficient in most healthy people, and the human evidence that P5P outperforms pyridoxine at equivalent intakes is thin. It costs more, we use it, and we would rather describe it accurately than pretend it is a breakthrough.

• We do not claim those ten sentences describe what this product does. They describe what the nutrient contributes to, assessed on the nutrient and not on our formulation.
• We do not claim our P5P is better absorbed or more effective than pyridoxine in practice. We have not seen evidence that would support it at these intakes.
• We do not claim this product treats, prevents or reduces the risk of anything.

What we claim is the composition: 2.1mg of vitamin B6 as pyridoxal-5-phosphate, 150% of the Nutrient Reference Value.