Better vitamin maths this week!

Angela Dowden was back this week showing how to get our Recommended Daily Allowance of 2mg of B6. Much better suggestions this week – 160g of grilled salmon delivering most of the B6 (1.3mg); one banana (must be a small banana to deliver 0.3mg) and then 200ml of ovaltine with half fat milk (semi skimmed I assume).

Milk is actually a poor source of B6, so the Ovaltine is the provider. But look what Ovaltine comes with:
Barley Malt Extract (45%),Skimmed Milk Concentrate, Whole Milk Powder, Fat-Reduced Cocoa Powder (6%), Vegetable Oil, Glucose Syrup, Yeast, Salt, Skimmed Milk Powder, Calcium Phosphate, Vitamins (C, E, Niacin, A, Pantothenic Acid, B12, B6, B2, B1, Folic Acid, Biotin), Magnesium Carbonate, Stabilisers (E340, E341), Sweetener (Acesulfame K), Milk Proteins, Iron, Anti-Caking Agent (E551), Flavouring.

So, the B6 is added to Ovaltine – along with a load of other things we don’t need. You may as well just take
a vitamin tablet than drink what is effectively a higher calorie version of a vitamin tablet.

Just have a bigger salmon portion and drop the Ovaltine cocktail. Or, 200g of liver would deliver all the B6 you need (and just about everything else) in one hit. Sunflower seeds are also a good source of B6 (1.3mg per 100g of seeds) but you’d need to be a Parrot or Budgerigar to get through enough for the daily allowance!

This is quite an interesting one this week to show that you need a decent amount of good food to get this essential vitamin. And, it’s a water soluble vitamin, which means the body doesn’t store it, so you need this daily.