ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1564257
Association between vitamin B6 status and liver fibrosis: Evidence from NHANES 2005-2010
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Hepatobiliary surgery,Shandong Provincial Third Hospital,Cheeloo College of Medicine,Shandong University, Jinan, China
- 2First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui Province, China
- 3Second Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui Province, China
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Introduction: Liver fibrosis (LF) is a chronic liver disease caused by various causes, with increasing global prevalence. Vitamin B6 is significantly altered during inflammation and has been associated with diabetes and hypertension. To date, no study has explored the association between vitamin B6 and LF. We aim to explore the association between vitamin B6 metabolites, 4-pyridoxine acid (4-PA), pyridoxal 5'phosphate (PLP), and 4-PA/PLP ratio (an indicator of vitamin B6 metabolism rate in the body), and LF risk. Methods: Data were extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2005-2010. The serum 4-PA, PLP, and 4-PA/PLP ratio were used to assess the serum vitamin B6 level. LF score was utilized to assess the LF.Univariate and multivariate logistic regression tests were performed to explore the association between the vitamin B6 status and LF, using odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Subgroup analysis, based on age, obesity, and several complications, was also conducted. Results: Of the 8063 subjects, 741 (9.19%) had LF.After adjusting all covariates, we observed that high PLP level was associated with the lower risk of liver fibrosis (OR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.35-0.56, P < 0.001); high 4-PA/PLP ratio was associated with higher risk of liver fibrosis (OR = 2.69, 95% CI: 1.87-3.86, P < 0.001). No significant association was found between 4-PA and LF. All these associations remain robust in each subgroup based on age, obesity, and also for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Conclusion: In conclusion, high serum PLP level was associated with the lower odds of LF, and a high 4-PA/PLP ratio, representing the high metabolic rate of vitamin B6, was associated with higher odds of LF.
Keywords: Vitamin B6, 4-pyridoxine acid, Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, metabolic rate, liver fibrosis
Received: 21 Jan 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Peng, Chen, Zhang, Pan and Yu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaopeng Chen, Department of Hepatobiliary surgery,Shandong Provincial Third Hospital,Cheeloo College of Medicine,Shandong University, Jinan, China
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