Effect of folic acid, methyl folate, zinc and vitamin B6

During the course of several multivitamin tablets and capsules, I observed the effects of few components such as folic acid, methylfolate, zinc and vitamin B6. Actually, these effects are observed when these compounds are taken along with a multivitamin tablet/capsule. Those multivitamin tablet/capsule contain less than daily recommended value of folic acid, zinc and vitamin B6.

When taken alone, zinc 15 mg gives sleepiness and dullness. In contrast, when zinc and vitamin B6 (at least 6 mg) are combined, it gives opposite effect. With this combination, sometimes I don't feel sleepy even around 1.30 am. But If I lie down on bed, I used to get good sleep and complete sleep. Even if it is a 6 hrs sleep, after getting up, even though I still feel the same tiredness and inertia, I don't get the feeling of "not slept enough". Earlier, I used to get "not slept enough....need to sleep for long hours to make up the loss" feeling, if i sleep less than 8 or 9 hours. Because of this feeling, I used to sleep for 8-10 hours during the weekends and 7-9 hours during the weekdays. with zinc and B6 combination, I never worried about sleep debt. Some afternoons, I felt sleepy. But, no urge to lie down and sleep. Earlier, many times I used to go to house and sleep from office. Those times, simply I could not control my sleepiness.

Zinc, when taken alone or in combination gives good muscle flexibility and endurance to sustain 45 minutes of pedaling in cross trainer. However, zinc taken at night disturbs the sleep and the next day I used to feel sleepy. Zinc also heals the skin bruises and scratches fast. My skin around the hand finger nails used to peel off after getting scratched while inserting into my back pant pocket. After taking zinc, simply I don't get this. 

Compound	Effect	Remarks
Folic acid	2.5 mg of folic acid gives energy and feelings of pleasure. When listening to music, it gives a very good feeling of intense happiness (just one level below mild euphoria )
Methylfolate	3.75 mg of methylfolate gives mainly enhancement of serotonergic function leading to dullness and sleepiness. On prolonged administration more than 2 weeks, it gives stabilized mood and energy.
Zinc	15 mg of zinc + vitamin C 250 mg Positive effects ·         good energy and positive mood, ·         reduced day time sleepiness (not completely abolishing but to some extent), ·         feeling of completed sleep ·         Healing of skin scratches and bruises ·         No gasping for breath while exercising, while climbing stairs and while talking Negative effects profuse sweating, pronounced stuttering, reduced fluency, non-stutterable pause, slightly reduced motivation, significantly reduced concentration and focus, reduced libido and erections. 7.5 mg – 10 mg of zinc in the form of aminochelate All the above effects in reduced intensity (dose-dependent reduction) with improved speech fluency and reduced stuttering but still mild non-stutterable pause is there	Without the zinc, I used to feel sleepy and lethargic with any multivitamin combination. After I observed non-stutterable pause, I stopped taking zinc. The next day, great improvement in energy, mood and almost nil non-stutterable pause was observed. I googled and found that Zinc can induce Parkinson's like syndrome in animal models by causing death of striatal dopaminergic neurons. Minocycline Rescues from Zinc-Induced Nigrostriatal Dopaminergic Neurodegeneration: Biochemical and Molecular Interventions.
Vitamin B6 / Pyridoxine HCl	1-5 mg gives moderate energy, focus and concentration. 5-10 mg gives optimum energy, focus and concentration. Above 10 mg gives profuse sweating, sleepiness, reduced loudness of speech and little anxiety due to pronounced stuttering

Daytime Sleepiness - Post Lunch Drowsiness

For the last one week, I am not taking any supplements. During the lunch, I took cooked beans and cooked greens with dhall (Tamil: keerai koottu). My lunch consisted of little rice, one piece of fish (either cooked in a gravy or fried), cooked beans and cooked greens with dhall. After the lunch, I did not feel sleepy significantly. No sleepiness in the evening also. Today, I took lunch with little rice, fried unripe banana (Tamil: Vaazhaikkai poriyal) and one piece of fish (cooked in gravy). After 1 hour, I felt sleepy uncontrollably. In my office chair itself, I slept for 10-15 minutes. After waking up, I felt normal and slightly more energetic with increased concentration.

This suggests that, this kind of sleepiness is probably due to excessive serotonin release triggered by insulin release. May be like this: Lunch increases blood glucose rapidly --> rapid and increased insulin release --> amino acid uptake into muscles --> tryptophan uptake into brain --> more serotonin synthesis and release (low cortisol in the afternoon also favors enhanced serotonin release). But, I doubt that increased synthesis and subsequent release of serotonin may happen after increased uptake of tryptophan into brain within 1 hour. The serotonin synthesis might take more amount of time. I need to explore further on this.

Also, this may have something to do with glucose homeostasis. I need to explore this further. However, my hypothesis at present is the cooked beans and greens may have high insoluble dietary fiber which may reduce glycemic index and slow the rate of release of insulin which subsequently lead to slower increase in serotonergic neurotransmission.