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Manufacturers could theoretically sell extremely high-dose vitamin preparations. And in fact, even with a superficial search in online shops, we sometimes find very high doses of preparations that exceed the daily recommendations for some vitamins many times over. And that can get dangerous pretty quickly.
Because if you eat a healthy and balanced diet and are not deficient in nutrients or vitamins, you can quickly consume harmful amounts of food supplements with high-dose preparations.
Recommendations for maximum quantity per day
There are no statutory maximum amounts for vitamins in food supplements. However, it has Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) issued a recommendation for maximum quantities. However, manufacturers of preparations do not have to adhere to these recommendations. The Maximum levels for some selected vitamins according to the BfR are:
- Vitamin A (for pregnant women): not at all/only after consultation with a doctor
- Vitamin C: 250 milligrams
- Vitamin D: 20 micrograms
- Vitamin E: 30 milligrams
- Folic acid: 200 micrograms (double in pregnant women)
Possible consequences of an oversupply of vitamins
A lot doesn’t help much. It is true that people with a proven vitamin deficiency sometimes have to take very high doses of vitamin supplements as part of medical treatment, but those who eat a healthy and balanced diet can cause some damage with the careless consumption of food supplements.
According to the German Society for Nutrition, this can be the case with a daily amount of 3 to 4 grams vitamin C to nausea and diarrhea come. Since vitamin C is water-soluble, our body can quickly excrete excess vitamin C via the urinary tract. Then the symptoms of the overdose disappear again.
Fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, K, D, and E our body can only slowly break down and excrete. Overdoses are common with these remedies therefore more dangerous. pure Vitamin A can in early pregnancy about too Developmental defects in the embryo to lead. Too much Vitamin D can lead to symptoms of poisoning. Then our body absorbs way too much calcium, what Headaches, muscle weakness, cardiac arrhythmia and kidney damage can cause. At vitamin B sometimes lead to overdoses skin rashesheadache and blood pressure disorders.