Intake of vitamins supplements is a part of everyone’s daily routine throughout the world. Consuming more than what’s recommended can be dangerous, whether it is nutrients. Recently, more and more people are falling ill due to overconsumption of these vitamin supplements.
In July, a man in the UK got hospitalized due to an overdose of vitamin D that made him unwell for several months. His symptoms were vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, dry mouth, ringing in the ears, and leg cramps.
Now, the Australian man lost his ability to walk due to consuming vitamin B6, 70 times more than what’s recommended. His daughter said his blood test revealed he was low on vitamin B6 and his doctor prescribed him 50 milligrams of vitamin B6 dosage. After the overconsumption of the dose, her father started losing the feeling of his legs. He was then admitted to the hospital after losing his ability to walk, there he was diagnosed with vitamin B6 toxicity.
RISK OF CONSUMING TOO MANY VITAMINS:
Nutrients are very necessary for our body to function properly, when the nutrients are derived through foods, then these nutrients are less likely to cause any harm, even though they are consumed in a large amount.
But when these nutrients are taken in by the concentrated supplements form, it’s easy to intake too much, and doing so can have dangerous and negative health outcomes.
HOW TO CONSUME SUPPLEMENTS SAFELY?
Here’s the list of nutrients and amount of dosage to be consumed:
| RDI for adult men | RDI for adult women | UL |
| Vitamin A | 900 mcg retinol activity equivalent(RAE) | 700 mcg RAE | 3,000 mcg RAE |
| vitamin B1 | 1.2 mg | 1.1 mg | no UL established |
| vitamin B3 | 1.3 mg | 1.1 mg | no UL established |
| vitamin B3 | 16 mg naicin equivalents (NE) | 14 mg NE | 35 mg |
| vitamin B5 | 5 mg | 5 mg | no UL established |
| vitamin B6 | 1.3 mg | 1.3 mg | 100 mg |
| vitamin B7 | 30 mcg | 30 mcg | no UL established |
| vitamin B9 | 400 mcg dietary folate equivalents (DFE) | 400 mcg (DFE) | 1,000 mcg |
| vitamin B12 | 2.4 mcg | 2.4 mcg | no UL established |
| vitamin C | 90 mg | 75 mg | 2,000 mg |
| vitamin D | 600 IU | 600 IU | 4,000 IU |
| vitamin E | 15 mg | 15 mg | 1,000 mg |
