It’s rare that you hear of a person overdosing on a vitamin or mineral supplement. Your wellness actually depends on vitamins and minerals, so it’d be pretty hard to overdo it, right? In reality, what you may not know is that disproportionate amounts of vitamins can actually cause major side effects, and end up doing serious damage to your health.
The problem with vitamins is that you think you can take them as the source of your daily nutrition, and they can’t do you any harm, but your wellbeing depends on, as the saying goes, ‘everything in moderation.’ Too much of any vitamin (or anything for that matter) is a bad thing, but there are certain vitamins whose side effects are more evident than others.
Firstly, too much vitamin A is dangerous because vitamin A is fat-soluble. This means that the fat cells in your body will store it for quite some time, as opposed to water-soluble vitamins which are easily flushed out via urine. Vitamin A is said to be good for your vision, and this is where the side effects hit first. You can experience blurred eyesight, and also skin rashes, and irregular periods in women, which will tell you that you need to eat a few less carrots.
You may have noticed that doctors always prescribe vitamin B complex for your daily nutrition and rather than individual B vitamins. This is because this group of 12 different vitamins, the largest vitamin group, works in a funny way. Taking any of the components of vitamin B complex separately causes an imbalance in the body. Your muscles can become very quickly affected from an excess of a particular B vitamin. A lack of reflex in your muscles, for example, is due to an overdose of B6.
When it comes to vitamin C, an overdose can lead to bone diseases, or insomnia and headaches brought on by too many blasts of energy from citrus foods. It sounds counterintuitive, but if you have too much energy, it actually gives you problems sleeping and your resulting tiredness will cause headaches. If you are pregnant and taking vitamin C, chances are that you’re on lots of strong nutrition supplements, which means you’re at risk to stomach cramps and diarrhoea.
Finally, you might not have expected to see vitamin D on this list as it’s a difficult one to come by in foods, and many people are deficient in it. Most people get their vitamin D from exposure to the sun, and so this is the leading cause of vitamin D overdose. It is seriously rare to experience vitamin D toxicity from oral supplements, but it can cause you to retain too much calcium in your blood stream, which will bypass your bones and head for your kidneys, forming kidney stones.
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