Magnesium with vitamin B6 for stress in adults
What it found
In 264 stressed adults with low magnesium, magnesium alone and magnesium plus vitamin B6 both cut stress scores by around 40% over 8 weeks, with no overall difference between the two.
In those with severe or extremely severe stress, the combination gave a 24% greater improvement than magnesium alone.
What they found
Studies in people
Overall stress change
Both groups improved substantially. Stress scores fell by 44.9% with magnesium plus vitamin B6 and 42.4% with magnesium alone, with no statistical difference between the groups.
Severe stress subgroup
Among those with severe or extremely severe stress at the start, the combination group improved 24% more than the magnesium-only group at week 8 (3.16 points).
Milder stress subgroup
In people with normal to moderate stress, there was no significant difference between the two treatments.
Timing of improvement
Most of the stress reduction happened in the first 4 weeks in both groups. In the severe stress subgroup, the combination reached at week 4 a similar improvement to magnesium alone at week 8.
Side effects
About 12% of the combination group and 17% of the magnesium-only group had side effects possibly related to treatment. Diarrhea was the most common, reported by 4.5% and 7.6% respectively.
What the authors conclude
“These findings suggest oral Mg supplementation alleviated stress in healthy adults with low magnesemia and the addition of vitamin B6 to Mg was not superior to Mg supplementation alone.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that oral magnesium supplementation alleviated stress in healthy adults with low magnesium, and that adding vitamin B6 was not superior to magnesium alone overall.
- They state that in subjects with severe or extremely severe stress, the study provides clinical support for greater benefit of magnesium combined with vitamin B6.
- They advise that longer studies are needed to see if the effects last beyond 8 weeks.
How it was done
Animal and clinical studies suggest magnesium and high-dose vitamin B6 may work together to reduce stress. No randomised trial had tested this combination on perceived stress in people with low magnesium.
Healthy adults aged 18 to 50 with moderate to extremely severe stress and low blood magnesium were randomly assigned to take either magnesium plus vitamin B6 (300 mg and 30 mg daily) or magnesium alone (300 mg daily) for 8 weeks. Stress was measured with a 42-item questionnaire at the start, week 4 and week 8.
What it can’t tell you
- The trial did not include a placebo group, so it cannot show how much of the stress reduction was due to the supplements themselves versus other factors.
- The results apply to healthy adults aged 18 to 50 with low magnesium and moderate to severe stress; they may not apply to other groups.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests to declare: CD reports no conflict of interest. AM reports consultancy fees from Sanofi, unrelated to this publication. LD has received research funding from Sanofi and consultancy payments unrelated to this publication. JH was employed by Daacro at the time of this study, and has also received consultancy fees and performed saliva analyses for Sanofi, unrelated to this publication. Daacro is a private contract research and saliva analysis laboratory. Daacro did not play any role in funding the study design, data collection, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript, however, research materials and the laboratory premises were used to analyse saliva samples for this trial and the company was reimbursed for any time or materials used relating to this study. EP, MK-A and LN are employees of Sanofi. LN was employed by Metabrain Research during the conduction of the trial and the early stages of the development of this manuscript. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
- Authors work at
- Université Clermont Auvergne, France; University of Leeds, United Kingdom
The paper
- Title
- Superiority of magnesium and vitamin B6 over magnesium alone on severe stress in healthy adults with low magnesemia: A randomized, single-blind clinical trial
- Type
- Randomised controlled trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Pouteau E, Kabir-Ahmadi M, Noah L, et al (2018). Superiority of magnesium and vitamin B6 over magnesium alone on severe stress in healthy adults with low magnesemia: A randomized, single-blind clinical trial. PloS one. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0208454Free full textPubMed 30562392DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error