Are You Drugging Yourself with Vitamins?

By Helga McKay

Vitamin C cures Colds. Calcium builds bones. Vitamin A prevents cancer.

These are just a few claims made by “health promoters” who just so happen to sell vitamin and mineral supplements. Many books and articles are written by self-proclaimed experts in nutrition who are often without credentials.

More than 50 known nutrients are essential to humans and most vitamin and mineral supplements contain only 20 to 30 nutrients. Vitamins and minerals are an essential part of being healthy but are needed in very small amounts. Health and Welfare Canada has developed some standards that are used as a guideline for Canadians.

These standards are called the Recommended Nutrient intakes (RNI). The RNI is the amount of a nutrient requirement for the average healthy person to maintain health. The RNI is set by taking the nutrient requirement for the average healthy person and then adding a large safety margin. Because of this safety margin, the RNI can be as much as twice the actual required amount. This safety margin is insurance for the odd person who may have a higher requirement. If you consume only 80% of the RNI for any particular nutrient, you don’t necessarily become deficient, you only increase your risk of becoming deficient, if you happen to be one of those few for whom the safety margin was designed.

We are all subject to the confusion which can be caused by advertising claims. You may have heard that if you are not eating adequately, you should take a vitamin and mineral supplement “just for insurance,” or that if a little is good, a lot must be great, or maybe you’re an athlete looking for that “winning edge.” Producers of vitamin and mineral supplements are generally invested in keeping those attitudes popular and we are all vulnerable to them; after all, it is our health that is at stake. Do you dare take the chance with your precious health and disbelieve them? What harm can come from a few little vitamin pills?

Unfortunately, there are side effects to taking too much of any nutrient. When vitamins are taken in doses much higher than the RNI, they are no longer nutrients, but are more like drugs, having the same possible detrimental consequence.

Stress tab supplements containing several of the B vitamins are often taken by people who are stressed, either physically, mentally, or emotionally in order to increase their energy level. B vitamins are needed to convert energy from carbohydrates, fats and protein into energy that the body can use. The vitamins and minerals themselves do not contain any energy and by consuming more of them than necessary one does not increase the amount of energy one has unless a deficiency exists to begin with – vitamin B deficiencies are very rare in developed countries.

A woman once told me she took large doses of niacin (one o the B vitamins) because it made her feel warm. A warm tingling feeling in the body is a side effect of too much niacin and is called a “niacin rush.” Continued intake of mega doses of niacin can lead to liver damage.

The vitamin C RNI for an adult male is 60 mg. You might ask, “Why then do people often consume more than 1000 mg of vitamin per day? Many people take vitamin C during the winter flu season in hopes of preventing the common cold. Excess vitamin C can affect the ability of white blood cells to fight infection thereby making one more susceptible to developing illness and chewable vitamin C can also damage tooth enamel. One study shows that people who were taking a placebo but thought they were taking vitamin C had fewer colds than those people who were taking vitamin C but thought they were taking a placebo. This is an excellent example of the “placebo effect,” i.e., realizing benefit through belief rather than by any pharmacological benefit.

Fat soluble vitamins (Vitamins A, D, E and K) are more dangerous when taken in excess. Fat soluble vitamins are absorbed along with fat in the diet. Once they are in the body, amounts that are not needed are stored for later use. Therefore, if you have six carrots one day (or four times the RNI for vitamin A) and no vegetables the next two days, the vitamin A that was not used by your body on the first day is stored for use on the following days. If you have six carrots or a vitamin A supplement every day for several months, the excess will be stored and can reach dangerous life-threatening levels.

Large doses of certain nutrients affect the body’s ability to use and absorb other nutrients. For example, too much zinc hampers your body’s ability to absorb copper and could lead to a copper deficiency. A copper deficiency decreases your body’s ability to absorb iron and could lead to an iron deficiency.

Fruits and vegetables are excellent source of nutrients. Generally, the most colourful vegetables (broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, squash, red and green peppers) have more nutrients than less colourful vegetables (lettuce, cucumbers, celery). You should eat at least one of the more colourful vegetables and two servings of whole fruit every day.

The best insurance for getting the necessary amount of all nutrients in your diet is to eat a wide variety of wholesome food.