I take a multivitamin powder that cures me right up when I take a lot of it, but there’s so much in it I’m scared to take multiple doses a day. I feel like if I took 8 servings I’d be cured of all my problems. Should I be worried long-term that it may cause damage?
Linky no worky, maybe try again. Without knowing it’s contents it’s pretty hard for anyone to offer real advice, I should think.
Unless there’s a specific defiicieny needing supplementation extra vitamins aren’t “curing you up” and some of them can have negative effects if you are receiving too much. If you do have a specific deficiency the best way to deal with it wouldn’t be a broad multivitamin.
This WebMd article points at some possible issues with exceeding recommended dosages and has a fun quote from Johanna Dwyer, RD, a senior research scientist with the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements.
The fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K) will accumulate in the body. The water soluble vitamins, B and C, excrete out, giving you very overpriced urine.
Too much Vitamin A can cause the bones to lose calcium, among many other effects. Too much Vitamin D has a similar effect, and may also screw up your thyroid.
Looking at the ingredient list, I think you’d probably be just as well off with the basic furit and vegetable blend and no added vitamins.
I went fishing with a Samoan and he at an entire sharks liver raw. He ended up in the hopital from some kind of vitamin poisoning, I think Vitamin A but not sure.
A dose of that daily seems mostly safe. Perhaps too much Vit D, but not dangerous. Eight doses would be quite dangerous. Daily doses over 200mg of B6 can cause nerve damage. You would certainly get way too much Vitamin D.
That powder doesnt have any significant amount of Iron.
More than two doses per day would be an unsafe amount of selenium.
Good point. Maybe twice that, on occasion.
Radium.
I’ve not heard of that. Can you elaborate.
(I’m simply curious, not attacking).
Speaking of vitamin D and the thyroid, there are some potential (confounding) linkages.
First, many (or most) people taking vitamin D are also taking calcium. Turns out that calcium is a VERY effective agent when it comes to interfering with any thyroxine (Synthroid, Eltroxin, et al) taken by mouth. So, if someone is taking thyroxine supplements and they are also taking calcium around the same time, much of the thyroxine will be bound up by the calcium. The net result is they absorb less of the thyroxine and can, and often do, become hypothyroid again.
Considering that something like five to ten percent of women over age 65 take thyroxine, and an even greater percentage use calcium, what I’ve described is a very common drug interaction. Now you know (if you didn’t before).
There are numerous stories about all the Arctic explorers who died, as did their dogs, from vitamin A poisoning because they didn’t know that polar bear liver is highly toxic. Even a “serving sized” piece has enough vitamin A to make a person very sick, and you can bet these people weren’t eating a 3-ounce piece at a time, either.
The Inuit knew this, and always discarded the liver. They would starve before eating it.
The calcium can bind with the thyroxine and impair its absorption. It’s OK to take calcium or eat calcium-rich foods more than 2 hours before or after taking thyroxine.
Asbestos and uranium are both minerals. Small amounts of either will harm you.
Arsenic is a deadly mineral as well.
I have found that most people who supplement with vitamins under the belief that it is somehow curative of illness or beneficial in some way aside from treating a vitamin/mineral deficiency do not like to be told that what they are doing is not really valid. “Well, all I know is after I started taking my multivitamin, I have never gotten sick or had the flu or felt pain in my knees.” “So you can’t tell me that it’s not working.” Some version of this is how they usually meet any sort of clear headed reasoning.
My apologies. Parathyroid, actually.
This comes straight from something called the Vitamin D Council, and I’m guessing if they say too much Vitamin D can be bad for you, it may be* really* bad for you.
I’ve heard about the polar bear liver / vitamin A thing, but why polar bears specifically? Their sheer size? The fat-rich diet which would …mumble … somethingsomething … A is a fat-soluble vitamin, so … uhh …
Slight hijack of the topic, I realize, but does anyone know?
Iron toxicity may cause you GI upset that puts you right back into a dehydrated malnutrition malnourished state. But you can probably tolerate 8 servings. Depends on your body, and the strength of iron in the preperation.
You will probably feel like vomitting up 8 serves on an empty stomach, but with food it will be tolerated.
High levels of Vitamin A in the long term has been linked to cancer, it seems to feed the tumors.
Ironically a short pulse of higher vitamin A levels has been linked to better immunity for a short time, and lack of vitamins leads to reduced immunity.
Other than the vitamin A effect, its a waste as its just going to go down the toilet unless you are lacking in it.
Sheldon Cooper’s little speech means that food is generally better as it will release more slowly into the blood stream… rather than the pills which are absorbed all at once and cleaned out of the blood by the kidneys.