The secret hazards of too many vitamins - Daily Illini

Walking through any drug store, it’s hard to miss the entire aisle dedicated to various supplements; from one pill for cardiovascular health to another for immune system strength. In the United States, stores are popping up everywhere with the sole purpose of providing vitamin, mineral, hormonal and herbal supplements to eager consumers.

Despite this fixation with dietary supplements and the craze over the various health benefits they seem to provide, vitamins might not be as beneficial as they are hyped up to be.

People cannot eat an unbalanced diet and count on supplements to get their nutritional needs, said Rebecca Roach, teaching associate for food science and human nutrition.

“By taking supplements, they’re getting their vitamins and minerals, but there’s a lot of other stuff in food that they’re not getting (such as) different phytochemicals â€" which are plant chemicals that probably have some kind of protective benefit â€" fiber and energy,” she said.

Professor Tim Garrow, who has a master’s degree in nutrition, said it’s always better to meet your nutritional needs from food sources rather than try to compensate for a poor diet by consuming a handful of supplements.

“During certain periods in life, such as pregnancy, or under certain medical or environmental conditions, it may be helpful or even required to take a supplement to ensure adequate nutrient intake,” he said. “But in general, for most healthy individuals, simply consuming a healthy diet can provide all of the nutrition required for optimal health.”

Despite this, many people may still insist on taking a multivitamin or some other supplement. In these cases, both Roach and Garrow said vitamins are OK, but only within limits.

“If as a way to ensure adequate intake of micronutrients a person desires to take a supplement, they should choose one that provides each nutrient at 100 percent of the recommended daily allowance or less,” Garrow said. “There is no benefit to mega-supplementation.

There is currently no evidence to support that those in the general population who take supplements have reduced incidence of chronic disease.”

Also, supplements’ labels are not always accurate, said Karen Chapman-Novakofski, professor of nutrition.

“Supplements are not like either food or medications in that there isn’t a regulation that says what you put on that supplement label has to be there,” Chapman-Novakofski said. “So, you may have a supplement that says it has so many milligrams of potassium, and it may or may nor be there. It may have other sorts of things in there, and there’s no regulation on that unless it causes great harm to someone.”

According to Chapman-Novakofski, there are two organizations in the U.S. that monitor supplements: the United States Pharmacopeia and the Underwriters Laboratory.

Chapman-Novakofski said that if a supplement includes a USP seal, the company has voluntarily submitted their supplement for analysis to make sure that the information on the label is accurate and that there are no contaminants in the supplement. The seal also ensures that they have used good manufacturing practices and that the supplement is easily absorbable.

However, brands that do not have the seal aren’t necessarily contaminated.

“I recommend if people are spending the money on a supplement, they make sure they are getting the most wholesome and highest quality supplement that they can,” Chapman-Novakofski said.

Not only this, but it is important to know if a vitamin is fat-soluble or water-soluble because this can determine how much damage they do when taken in large amounts.

“Water-soluble vitamins, in general, don’t build up to toxic levels in your body,” Roach said. “But when your body has all that it needs, which is usually not a lot, then it just pees out the rest.”

Fat-soluble vitamins may be more dangerous.

“Excessive supplementation of the fat-soluble vitamins, which are vitamins A, D, E and K, can result in specific symptoms of toxicity,” Garrow said. “Fat-soluble vitamins can be toxic because they can be stored in the adipose tissue of our body, whereas the other vitamins are generally not stored, and so excesses are more rapidly excreted.”

Roach suggests talking to a health care provider before taking any kind of supplement. Supplements can sometimes negatively react with one another and with other medications, and it is important to know this before any harm is done. Also, many supplements, when taken in too large amounts, can actually be damaging.

“In the United States, we have very few deficiency diseases,” Roach said. “Adding more, just because you think it’s going to help you think better, it doesn’t work that way …. We just need to get over this whole idea that if we need a little bit, then getting more is even better.”