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Many people think that taking a daily cocktail of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other supplements is a prescription for a healthy diet. But it’s also likely that they don’t know whether the nutrients they’re taking are fat soluble, water soluble, or if they are getting more of some nutrients than they need.
Supplements, in general, are viewed as good for you, and people may think, “If one is good, then more is probably better.” But that’s not necessarily true.
Getting too many fat- or water-soluble nutrients, either from the food you eat or from supplements, can be dangerous. Vitamin and mineral supplements are serious business, and taking more than you need – unless you are under the care of your doctor – may be bad for your health.
The Dangers of Too Much Anything
Taking a vitamin or supplement as directed on the package label is considered to be safe, but not following directions can lead to problems.
“Excesses of all nutrients, from water, to iron, to water-soluble B vitamins, can potentially cause toxicities,” says Norman Hord, PhD, MPH, RD, associate professor in the department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Michigan State University. People who take vitamins and minerals in amounts above the established upper limits of the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) may harm tissues where the vitamin is stored in their body, Hord explains. That’s why you shouldn’t take more than the recommended amount.
Vitamins and other nutrients play essential roles in maintaining good health, but they need to be consumed in the proper amounts. Vitamins are classified into two types: water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins. They are divided into these groups according to how they are dissolved and stored in your body. Fat-soluble vitamins reside in your body’s fatty tissue and liver and are used as needed by your body. By contrast, water-soluble vitamins dissolve in water and generally are not stored in your body.
Water-Soluble Vitamins and Nutrients
Because water-soluble vitamins and nutrients dissolve in water, the continuous supply your body needs calls for a steady daily intake, from the foods you eat, from the supplements you take, or from a combination of foods and supplements. Vitamins C, B12, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, tryptophan, pantothenic acid, biotin, and folic acid are all classified in the water-soluble category.
Water-soluble nutrients work best when you get them in the proper amounts. When you eat or take more than your body needs, the body adapts by absorbing just what it needs, and then it usually excretes the excess in your urine – but not always. A study in the August 2010 Journal of Nutrition Science and Vitaminology found that urinary excretion of certain vitamins and other nutrients was reduced when study participants fasted.
The field of nutrition is ever-changing, and experts used to think that taking excess amounts of a water-soluble nutrient was harmless because the excesses would just be eliminated in urine. Today, we know that’s not the case, and that some water-soluble vitamins and nutrients are handled differently by the body than others.
Just because most water-soluble vitamins are not stored by the body, you can’t assume that it is safe or effective to take more than the safe upper limit. In addition, you need to account for the vitamins and nutrients you get from the food you eat, says Ruth Frechman, MS, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.
“Certain water-soluble vitamins in excess can cause problems, such as too much vitamin B6 can cause nerve problems, too much niacin can cause flushing, and excess vitamin C can cause kidney stones,” Frechman observes. Excess folic acid may also mask a vitamin B12 deficiency, which is more common in people over age 50.
Fat-Soluble Vitamins
Vitamins A, D, E, and K are the fat-soluble vitamins. Unlike water-soluble vitamins, these vitamins dissolve in fat and are stored in body tissues. Because they are stored, over time they can accumulate to dangerous levels and can lead to a condition called hypervitaminosis, meaning excess amounts of a vitamin in the body, if more than the recommended amount is taken.
“Too much vitamin A, D, or K can lead to increased levels that are unhealthy and can cause health consequences,” says Frechman. She adds that too much vitamin A can lead to birth defects, and too high levels of vitamin E may increase the risk of hemorrhaging. Excess vitamin K can lessen or reverse the effect of blood thinner medicines and prevent normal blood clotting.
Vitamin D has been one of the more controversial vitamins. Even though it is a fat-soluble vitamin, it appears to be tolerated in the body at higher levels.
As of 2010, the Institute of Medicine recommends a daily allowance of 600 international units (IU) of vitamin D for everyone ages 1 to 70, with an upper limit of 4,000 IU for those ages 9 and older.
Some experts, like vitamin D researcher and Creighton University professor Robert Heaney, MD, think the upper limit levels are still not set high enough and that more vitamin D may be necessary to foster good health. “The new upper limit for vitamin D has been doubled to 4,000 IU per day, which will meet the needs of most healthy people, but the research shows the toxic level is much higher than the established ceiling,” Heaney tells WebMD.
Frechman points out that vitamin D is also a hormone, which makes it unique in its properties. This dual function may explain why it functions differently than the other fat-soluble vitamins and renders it less harmful at higher intakes.
Too Much Can Cause Harm
Exceeding the government set tolerable upper limits can be a problem. “There is a reason for the tolerable upper limits that needs to be respected. Research has shown at which levels nutrients can cause potential problems, and these numbers take into account all sources of vitamins and minerals from food, fortified food and supplements,” says Frechman.
When the level goes beyond the safe upper limits, vitamins can act like drugs, says Roberta Anding, MS, RD, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, director of sports nutrition at Texas Children’s Hospital, and dietitian for the Houston Texans pro football team. Excessive calcium intake, more than 2,500 mg a day, can interfere with kidney function, cause kidney stones and constipation, and interfere with the absorption of iron and zinc.
The Risks of Fortified Foods Combined With Supplements
Fortified foods are another way people get additional nutrients. Historically, fortified foods were the way Americans filled some nutrient voids. Public health concerns over nutrient deficiencies led to production practices like adding iodine to salt, grains enriched with B vitamins and iron, and milk fortified with vitamins A and D.
But the combination of whole foods, supplements, and fortified foods raises safety concerns with experts. Eating fortified foods while also taking supplements can cause a person’s diet to exceed safe upper levels and potentially lead to a toxic buildup.
Six Brazil nuts, which weigh about 1 ounce, contain 544 micrograms of selenium, says Frechman. That’s a whopping 780% of the Daily Value of this trace mineral, which is only needed in small amounts.
The bottom line to remember is that if you are taking supplements, know the tolerable upper limit of the vitamins and minerals you’re taking, and check all labels to make sure your food choices are not enriched with the same nutrients. Your best option is to consult a doctor or dietitian before you begin taking any supplement.
Source
http://www.medicinalfoodnews.com/rss/inthenews.xml
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Nonsense.
‘The professor’ is wrong about B-vits, and for that matter C-vits.
One can’t store water-coluble B or C vits, they have to be replenished DAILY, and I for one have taken more than 10 x 1000mg in one day of C-vits, to stave off colds and flus. Same goes for B-vits. Water soluble! As we are mostly comprised of water one woud have to swallow a hell of a lot of these to ‘poison’ oneself. It is good to give supplements a rest, as you intuitively feel it, if you do and can.
But this is the plan of the elite, to undermine your confidence and health.
Going by recommended daily allowences (RDA’s) is farcical, and through CODEX ALIMENTARIUS, the elite wish to create ill-health and death, both of which they profit from, so I’m not sure who this professor is working for, but take his rather orthodox findings with a huge pinch of salt… not too much now, you may poison yourself!, especially if it’s the supermarket-bought crap, full of anti-caking agents and other un-salt like substances. (Get real sea-salt, making sure it has NO additives what-so-ever!
“Let food be thy medicine and thy medicine be food” famous old greek quote, probably Hyppocratus.
This is a great principle to live by – so you will all have to support the small, organic farmers everuywhere before the FDA destroys your food-chain and gives it all to Big-Agri and/or Monsanto.
That is the plan. it is also their intention to undermine supplements by making them ‘useless’ and way too expensive for most of us. Creating ill-health is what orthodox medicine and big-pharma are all about. – PROFITS!
If you still have faith in your doctor, you are delusional and a fool. If you have faith in orthodox-pharmacy, there is actually no hope for you. This unfortunatley is the politest way to put it.
Don’t believe, find out for yourself, and be aware that there are health-sites around that are not what they seem … don’t believe me! Find out for yourself… please.
I agree with Kai ^^^^^ 🙂
There are lots of educational websites out there so you can find out for your selves instead of listening too someone who has probably had a back hander from one of the pharma companies. google Mercola website. It’s brilliant for finding out about any natural ways to cure oneself of all kinds of disease conditions from a common cold to cancer!!! credence is also a good site Philip day is an investagative journalist, he’s very interesting and he put me on to Joseph Mercola. If thgere is any truth in this finding then these credence and mercola will know about it!
Agree with Kai as well. The FDA amounts are barely enough to cover deficiencies and are not optimal amounts. Also we need to be keep in mind, the importance of avoiding toxins (aspartame, msg, HFCS, hormones, etc.).
Another good source for the truth is The Health Ranger, Mike Adams. He has a great website.
We need vitamin C and B in our daily food for replenish is absolutely right.It could not store in our body and C has highly anti-oxidant and it can reduce the free radical not to be formed for oxidation with oxygen.And another benefit of vitamin C is strong enough to soak up heavy metals and toxins like a sponge,that means it can clean our body to be more healthier life.Only for this one reason vitamin C can prevent not to be caused for occur cancer.
Bur risk and benefit is in everywhere.The risk of vitamin C such as fruit juice have a negative effect on medication.Orange and apple juice can also reduce the benefit of medication.Recent study said severe fruit juice have a negative effect on medication.Grape fruit juice caused dangerously high concentration of some medicine.Thus swallows your pills with water.
Don`t use the over the counter drugs without doctor`s prescription not only vitamin but all antibiotics and pain release medicine.Sometime the two together with drugs are caused more serious cases to be happened and may be danger.Azithromicine it is anti-biotics and something they are changed the form of drugs and it`s side effect is bad of irregular heart beat,diarrhoea,increase high blood pressure and headache.We are using anti-biotics for fight bacterials and sometime we have suffered of it`s side effect.Anyhow when the patients have chronic disease like high blood pressure and having the following side effect,informed your doctor as soon as possible.