Mega Dosing and Vitamin Toxicity
Mar 03 '01
The Bottom Line Many trends of today, and even some marketing campaigns can lead to overdoses of vitamins and minerals and cause irreversible damage to your health.
Mega dosing is the common practice of Americans concerned with fitness and health to take large doses of vitamins and minerals. Not only is this unnecessary, it can be dangerous or even deadly. It can cause permanent detrimental effects to the body such as birth defects, bone deformation, and death.
When starting any vitamin supplement regimen, be sure to follow the RDA stated on the label. Also, realize that you get vitamins and minerals in the foods you eat. If, for instance, you eat a lot of carrots; Vitamin A supplements may actually be detrimental to your health. This vitamin in levels not far above the RDA can produce very serious toxicities and related health problems.
When taking on a new vitamin regimen; never take more than the dosage suggested on the label, or by your physician.
Megadosing can apply to supplement drinks and bars as well. If you eat a regular diet, take a supplement, and consume things like Power Bars or Super Fuel drinks; you may be setting yourself up for vitamin toxicity.
In children, these effects can be much more damaging and life threatening. If your child eats regular meals and takes a vitamin supplement no further supplementation is necessary except in extreme cases such as anemia where larger doses of iron are necessary to keep up blood oxygen levels.
A disturbing trend showing up in today's supermarkets are so-called "superfoods" such as peanut butter fortified with 8 extra vitamins and minerals gained in sufficient dietary amounts through other common sources.
The obvious problem with such foods is in combination with supplements and other dietary sources the consumer may be setting himself up for toxicity. The scary part is, most of the "superfoods" of this type are target marketed at parents and children.
Here I will list a few toxicity symptoms and the vitamins that can cause them.
Vitamin A may be the most toxic vitamin. Its threshold for safe intake is quite small compared to other vitamins. Toxicities have been reported at levels as low as 25 times the RDA. Most toxicities appear to occur after consumption of 25,000 to 50,000 IU per day for several months.
Birth defects have been noted when pregnant women consume more than 25,000 IU per day. Signs of vitamin A toxicity include: loss of appetite, weight loss, bone malformations, spontaneous fractures, and internal bleeding. These toxicities can be reversed when the vitamin is discontinued.
Vitamin D Vitamin D is also a very toxic vitamin. Adverse reactions have been reported after single overdoses as low as 50 times the RDA.
Overzealous fortification of infant formula with vitamin D in Britain in the 1950s resulted in Vitamin D toxicities in many children. Vitamin D toxicity causes bone lesions.
Vitamin C This vitamin is moderately toxic. Intake at 20 to 80 times the RDA produces gastrointestinal disturbances and diarrhea.
People with a history of calcium oxalate kidney stones should consult a physician before taking high doses of this vitamin
Niacin The toxicity of niacin may be related to the chemical form in which it is consumed. Nicotinic acid can cause itching, nausea, vasodilatation, and vomiting in humans at doses of 2 to 4g/day.
Nicotinamide only rarely produces these toxicities and is the preferred medical form of the vitamin.
Folate High doses of folate in humans are associated with reduced zinc absorption. No other toxicities have been established for any dose.
Some "mega-doses" of vitamins may have legitimate medical uses, but please remember that certain vitamins, like Vitamin A and Vitamin D, produce very serious toxicities not far above their nutritionally required levels. Others , such as Vitamin E, appear to have no upper limits for safe consumption. So please use caution in selecting supplements and starting any program of vitamins and/or minerals.
Here is a great source of info on this subject:
http://www.nutrition.org/nutinfo/
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