Are there any nutrients or vitamins that are dangerous to have too much of?

Question:

Besides vitamin K and iron, are there any other nutrients or vitamins that it is too dangerous to have too much of? I take a multi vitamin daily and try to get plenty of vitamins in my diet. I want to make sure that there isn't any danger of having too much of one thing.

Answers:
Calcium actually. And if you take/eat a lot of calcium, make sure you have just as much Vitamin D in your system. Calcium is hard to absorb without D and can lead to kidney stones. Magnesium and Phoshorus also aren't good to have too much of. Some vitamins though, like Vitamin C, you can have up to 300% of the Daily Value in one day and be fine. (My boyfriend tried those "Smoke Away" pills for quitting smoking. He needed to take 3 pills 3 times a day, and each dose was 300% Vitamin C. So he was getting 900% of the DV each day for 3 weeks and nothing happened to him. So Vitamin C isn't much to worry about either. Although I don't suggest you take that much for very long unless you need to.) -By the way, the Smoke Away pills DID work, but only for a short period of time until the little pills that you take when you get a craving ran out, then he went back to smoking again. Just in case you were wondering lol.

Don't worry too much about overdosing on Vitamin K and Iron because you might end up getting too little and that's not good either. You need at least 50% of the Daily Value of them or you can start feeling fatigued and getting cramps (especially leg cramps which are most associated with Potassium (K) deficiencies). Potassium is water-soluble though, so if you drink a lot of water, it washes out of your system faster and you need more of it. But if you only drink about 8 glasses or less of water per day, aim for 100% of the DV in a day.

Iron is also neccessary to keep your blood thick and healthy. Too much iron won't really HURT you either, per se. My ex once took 6 times the DV of iron by accident before donating blood (he read it as 100mg being 18% instead of 18mg being 100%) and took 6 iron pills to get over the 100% level lol! He was fine, his blood was just really "heavy" as the nurse explained. They still accepted it though. It's probably not good to do that very often though, so be careful.

Other Answers:
too much vitamin c causes diarrhea.

yes. you're multivitamin should include warnings about overdosing. I believe vitamin C and vitamin B12 carry risks.

Actually, excess of anything is bad...and that includes vitamins & other nutrients too.
However, Vitamin B Complex & C can be taken in excess quantities as they are water soluble and are any excess is excreted by the body. But the best thing is to check up with the medical fraternity

all of them in excess can make you sick take the reccommended daily amount and thats it

Vitamin A and Vitamin D in very high levels for long periods can be toxic. (Note: today, most people are deficient in Vitamin D and researchers now recommend much higher doses than the current RDA for this vitamin.)

There is a great deal of 'debate' in the medical research literature today about the possibility of toxicity of very high doses of vitamin E. The vast majority of medical studies show that high doses are safe and health promoting. To be safe, be sure you only take natural sources of vitamin E that are mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols (that is, all 8 forms of the naturally occurring vitamin).

Vitamin B6 in very high doses (300 - 500 milligrams) for long periods (6 or more months) can be toxic; causing a peripheral neuropathy.

Note: in your question you mention iron. Iron is a mineral and not a vitamin. Most minerals can be toxic at excessive doses.

P.S. There is NO RISk to even extreme high doses of B12. The only known risk to high doses of vitamin C (in vivo) is diarrhea.

More Questions and Answers

The consumer health information on youqa.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.

Are there any nutrients or vitamins that are dangerous to have too much of?

Health Resources