Too Much of a Good Thing: An Overdose of Vitamin D

Added: 02/03/2006

Think about it - if one vitamin is good for you, than a whole bunch of vitamins will do wonders for you, right? Wrong! One of the best ways to be healthy and to avoid various disorders and diseases is vitamin intake. Ingestion of vitamin D under the prescription may help you to avoid most of the cancer forms and other diseases. An overdose of vitamin D may lead to vitamin D side effects such as vitamin D toxicity, hypocalcaemia, fat metabolism and others. Thus, it is very important to take vitamins in normal dose.

It is very interesting, that the injunction of vitamin D high doses with the absence of a shortage may cause hypocalcaemia - exorbitant calcium in blood. In the case this condition is extended, it can lead to kidney and heart damage. Symptoms of overdose of vitamin D include weakness, vomiting, nausea, anorexia, bone pain, apathy, headache and polyuria. Because of the fact that vitamin plays an essential role in calcification and mineralization of bones, the symptoms of exorbitant vitamin D ingestion are the abnormalities consequences in calcium metabolism. The main reason of those problems is hypocalcaemia, which produces renal impairment and may cause soft tissue calcification.

Generally, the majority of hypervitaminosis D founded in adult people is the consequence of overdose of vitamin D, which was used for the cure of conditions that are not concerned with the lack of vitamin D. Daily intake of vitamin D 75,000IU in adults or 2,000IU in children may cause vitamin D toxicity and hypervitaminosis. For instance, the majority of vitamin D toxicity has been told to appear just after the ingestion of vitamin D dose that more than 45,000IU daily during several years.

Because of every person's body is different, there is a great variety of the doses that can result in hypervitaminosis. The continued intake of 50,000IU or even more every day by adult person with traditional sensitivity of vitamin D may cause one of vitamin D side effects, which is called poisoning. Intake of 55,000IU daily can result in hypocalcaemia, with weakness of muscles, irregular heartbeat, hypertension and proteinuria. Signs and symptoms of intoxication with overdoses of vitamin D mainly appear two to nine days after ingestion.

Chronic overdose of vitamin D, or hypocalcaemia, can result in generalized calcification of vessels with calcium salts high concentration in soft tissues, particularly in the kidney. This will strengthen kidney functions rapid deterioration. Heart, blood vessels, skin and lungs - all those parts of the body may be under the act of calcification. Because of the fact that vitamin D has a long plasma half-life approximately two and a half months, the stored vitamin in the human body will be set free slowly.
Another vitamin D side effect is the fat metabolism. There is some indication that 800IU to 2,700IU per day in adult persons may result in the plasma cholesterol level.

Maternal ingestion of vitamin D large doses may lead to hypocalcaemia in nursing babies. Toxicity of vitamin D may also indicate the fetus. Vitamin D toxicity may also lead to parathyroid function repression in the baby, what will result in seizures, tetany and hypocalcaemia.

Huge vitamin D doses up to a concentration of 10,000IU/kg in the period of pregnancy may be teratogenic. Intake of vitamin D 1,100IU to 3,800IU daily can be toxic to babies. The toxic dose of vitamin D for children is 9,000IU daily for 4 months to 180,000IU daily for fourteen days. 20% of normal adult persons, who receive 90,000IU daily during several weeks or months, can have hypocalcaemia.

Thus, overdose of vitamin D may cause big problems for your body, that's why it is very important to take vitamins by prescription only or under a doctor's advice.

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