Vitamin D: How to recognize an overdose

• This functions fulfills vitamin D
• causes for one Vitamin D overdose
• Risks of taking too much vitamin D
• symptoms with a vitamin D overdose

Helpful for strengthening bones, strong muscles and an intact immune system – vitamin D has a good reputation. However, the health-promoting effect can be reversed if you take too much vitamin D on a long-term basis. When it becomes such Vitamin D overdose can come and with which symptoms You can find out how those affected have to calculate here.

Vitamin D in the body: It fulfills these functions

Vitamin D fulfills a variety of functions in the human body. The most famous of them: It supports bone metabolismso the build-up and breakdown of bone substance. In particular, the hormone promotes the absorption of various minerals and their subsequent incorporation into the bones.

In addition, vitamin D involved in the following tasks:

• support various metabolic processes
• formation of proteins
• control of several genes

Vitamin D is therefore vital for the human body for several reasons, primarily for the bones. Both a deficiency and an overdose can have serious consequences.

An overdose of vitamin D: dietary supplements as the cause

Vitamin D is considered sun vitamin – and not without reason: everyone forms it when they are exposed to the sun’s rays. But this, the natural way, cannot lead to an overdose. Because the body has a kind of protective mechanism that kicks in as soon as there is enough vitamin D in the body. And also about the diet – for example, frequent eating of fatty sea fish – such a consequence is excluded.

The Cause of too much vitamin D lies alone in the dietary supplements, via which the vitamin can also be absorbed. The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) even warns of the health risks that can be associated with taking vitamin D supplements on your own. “Higher doses should only be taken under medical supervision and taking into account the individual vitamin D status“, according to a recent statement by the institute. How serious the consequences of a vitamin D overdose can be is shown again and again. The most recent example is a man from the UK who had to be taken to hospital with kidney damage, nausea and vomiting.

Anyone who wants to take vitamin D on their own should only use preparations with a daily dose of up to 20 micrograms (800 international units). “With this amount, health impairments are not to be expected.” With a – not medically justified – regular daily Vitamin D intake above high-dose drugs increases dem BfR according to that risk of damage to health such as the formation of kidney stones or kidney calcification. There are also cases of acute kidney failure as a result of uncontrolled self-administration of vitamin D preparations. On top of that, many vitamin D supplements ineffective and even harmful are.

Symptoms of a vitamin D overdose

To the recorded Vitamin D The body needs to be able to process and store it calcium. If the vitamin D level is increased, more calcium is absorbed from food and dissolved from the bones. A majority of the complaints of a vitamin D overdose are due to these increased blood calcium levels due (hyper-calcemia). Those are them Symptoms of vitamin D overdose:

• nausea and vomiting
• loss of appetite
• extreme thirst (polydipsia)
• increased urination (polyuria)
• feeling weak
• Headache
• nervousness
• Kidney stones and kidney damage up to kidney failure
• Stomach cramps
• fatigue

Looking at the symptoms will be between a acute and one chronic vitamin D overdose distinguished. Serious consequences such as kidney failure or kidney damage only occur after a longer period of increased intake. One speaks of an acute overdose when too much vitamin D is taken once. In order to determine an overdose, the blood level controlled. If you are unsure whether you have consumed too much vitamin D, you should check your family doctor put in touch.

In the course of corona pandemic Recommendations for taking vitamin D supplements on the Internet. It can protect against infection or at least against a severe course, it said. The BfR warns against preventive intake of vitamin D for this purpose. At Covid-19 the data situation is currently still uncertain. In particular, it has not yet been possible to show that people who are well supplied with vitamin D benefit from an additional dose of vitamin D. “A general recommendation for taking vitamin D supplements to prevent a Sars-CoV-2 infection or a severe course of a Covid-19 disease cannot be justified at the moment,” the institute said.

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Vitamin D deficiency: for whom it makes sense to take it

Although vitamin D is not a “real” vitamin because it can only be ingested to a limited extent through food, it still plays an important role in the body. For example, a vitamin D deficiency can cause the bones to soften and decalcify. Muscle weakness, bone pain and a reduction in physical strength can be the result. People who do not produce enough vitamin D can also develop osteoporosis. Bone mass is broken down – the bones become brittle. Older people are particularly affected by this disease.

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That’s why I recommend it BfR a general vitamin D intake of up to 20 micrograms per day for nursing home residents and –residents.

“Because vitamin D is formed in the skin under the influence of sunlight. However, many older people hardly move outdoors.” In addition, vitamin D formation decreases significantly with age. In the worst case, too much vitamin D deficiency can be fatal.

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with dpa