After months of nausea and vomiting, a middle-aged British man finally found out that he had too much vitamin D, a toxic cause of his health problems. His doctor noticed that it was due to excessive supplement therapy.
According to a case study released on July 6, the patient lost 28 pounds (12.7 kilograms) in three months and complained to a general practitioner of persistent abdominal pain, dry mouth, diarrhea and vomiting. British Medical Journal.. At the hospital, doctors learned that men’s symptoms began about a month after starting the intensive vitamin therapy proposed by a private nutritionist.
In this regimen, patients were taking 150,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D daily. this is, Mayo Clinic.. And on top of that, he was taking more than 20 other supplements, including more than the recommended amount of omega-3, vitamin K2, and folic acid.High levels of serum creatine, a waste product that makes your kidneys healthy Completely remove from the body, It was confirmed that the patient’s kidney was affected. The man received an intravenous infusion for hydration and he recovered after being hospitalized for eight days due to his kidney recovery.
Related: Why I Can’t Skip Magnesium When I’m Taking Vitamin D
“A common misconception about dietary supplements that contain vitamin D is that if some are good, it’s better to take more,” said a senior clinical dietitian at the Human Nutrition Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. Shelby Yasetsuko says. She wasn’t involved in the case report, she emailed Live Science. “Unfortunately, that’s not the case. It’s important to maintain normal vitamin levels, but it’s also very important not to take doses higher than what’s considered safe.”
According to Yaceczko, high doses of vitamins can be harmful. Too much vitamin D in the body can cause symptoms such as drowsiness, vomiting, weakness, constipation, bone pain, and arrhythmias. According to Yaceczko, regular blood tests are the only way to accurately identify and correct malnutrition. Without this type of monitoring, patients are at risk of toxicity as seen in case studies. (The case study did not mention whether the patient had regular blood tests by a dietitian and the author of the report could not comment).
However, according to Dr. Heather Tick, a clinical associate professor of family medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle and a professor of integrated medicine, he was not involved in the case report, so something else could be happening. There is sex. “Everything he was doing was a lot,” she told Live Science. However, to experience toxicity, “usually you need to take high doses of vitamin D for a much longer period, not just one month,” Tick added.
According to Yaceczko, the scientific literature says, “Vitamin D is toxic 1 [to] 4 months depending on some factors and the amount of megadose the individual is taking. “
Tick also said that the case study patient may have had the underlying condition that “he has a predisposition to accumulate vitamin D.”
It is important to note that Tick may be prejudiced against the elements of supplements and integrative medicine by traditional medical physicians, which can influence the conclusions of the case study. I added that there is.
Registered dietitian Yaceczko also warned that the term “nutritionist” is often used loosely, is an unregulated title, and does not require any kind of education or work experience. Therefore, people need to pay attention to where to get nutritional advice and look for a medical professional with the necessary training, Yaceczko said.
Originally published on Live Science.
