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The death of an elderly person after an overdose of vitamin D raises the question of the risks associated with consuming excessive doses of other vitamins. We put the question to Professor Christophe Stove, toxicologist at Ghent University. This: without vitamin supplements you will never get too high a dose.
Koen Baumers
“In a general sense, there is a distinction between fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins,” says Stove. “There is less risk with water-soluble vitamins, because you pee out the excess. Fat-soluble vitamins, such as that vitamin D, can accumulate. But even then it very rarely happens that it leads to an overdose. You only get those doses through the wrong use of supplements.”
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Vitamine A is in animal products. You get it when you eat liver pâté, for example. “There have been problems with vitamin A, in that it causes problems if you take excessive amounts of it,” says Stove. “But it’s not used that often in supplements. Specifically, it can have a negative effect on the unborn child in pregnant women. And in other people, in acute overdose, it leads to headaches, nausea, and fatigue. Prolonged, chronic overdose can cause visual disturbances, liver pain and bone problems. But that is very exceptional.”
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Vitamins B1 is in potatoes and wheat, vitamin B12 in meat. They support the functioning of the nervous system. “They are water soluble, so nothing to worry about,” says Stove. “Only at extremely high doses could it cause some problems, but that is actually very rare.”
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Vitamin C is in fruits and vegetables and plays a role in our immune system. “It is also water soluble. If you take an extremely high dose for x number of days in a row, you can get into problems. But recent scientific research shows that high doses of vitamin C do not pose much of a problem. Abdominal pain and nausea, that’s about it.”
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Vitamin K is found in green leafy vegetables such as lettuce and spinach, in meat and in whole milk. Babies are sometimes given it as a supplement and it plays a role in blood clotting. “It is again fat-soluble, but it is never found in traditional dietary supplements,” says Stove. “In high doses, the effect of anticoagulant medication can be counteracted.”