Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Hypervitaminoses A and D
Introduction
Overview
Overview
Template:DiseaseDisorder infobox
Vitamin poisoning, or hypervitaminosis, refers to a condition of high storage levels of vitamins, which can lead to toxic symptoms. The medical names of the different conditions are derived from the vitamin involved: an excess of vitamin A, for example, is called “hypervitaminosis A”.
High dosage vitamin A; high dosage, slow release vitamin B3; and very high dosage vitamin B6 alone (i.e. without vitamin B complex) are sometimes associated with vitamin side effects that usually rapidly cease with supplement reduction or cessation. Conversely, certain vitamins do not produce toxicity in excess levels. Vitamin C has been used in dosages over 100,000 mg for serious illness — over 1000 times the daily recommended intake — without ill effects. However, Vitamin C does have a pronounced laxative effect, typically when intake of vitamin C is in the range of 5-20 grams per day for a person in normal “good health”.[1]
High doses of mineral supplements can also lead to side effects and toxicity. Mineral-supplement poisoning does occur occasionally due to excessive and unusual intake of iron-containing supplements, including some multivitamins, but is not common.
The Dietary Reference Intake recommendations from the United States Department of Agriculture define a “tolerable upper intake level” for most vitamins.
Comparative safety statistics
Comparative safety statistics
Death by vitamin poisoning appears to be quite rare in the US, typically none in a given year. However before 1998, several deaths per year were typically associated with pharmaceutical iron-containing supplements, especially brightly-colored, sugar-coated, high-potency iron supplements, and most deaths were children.[2] Unit packaging restrictions on supplements with more than 30 mg iron have since reduced deaths to 0 or 1 per year.[3] These statistics compare with 59 deaths due to aspirin poisoning in 2003,[4] 147 deaths associated with acetaminophen-containing products in 2003,[5] and an average of 54 deaths per year due to lightning for 1990-2003.[6]
References
References
- ↑ Vitamin C, Titrating To Bowel Tolerance, Anascorbemia, And Acute Induced Scurvy Robert F. Cathcart, III, M.D. 1994
- ↑ http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/159/6/557
- ↑ http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/159/6/557/POA40361T1
- ↑ http://www.aapcc.org/Annual%20Reports/03report/Annual%20Report%202003.pdf
- ↑ http://www.aapcc.org/Annual%20Reports/03report/Annual%20Report%202003.pdf
- ↑ http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_lls/fatalities_us.html