Can I take too many vitamins?
Even good things can be bad in excess. In this video, preventive medicine specialist David Katz, MD, discusses the risks that come with taking too many vitamins.
Transcript
Even something essential for life can become harmful if the dose is wrong. That's true of water. Too much water in the blood dilutes out
key nutrients like sodium. And that's potentially life threatening. [MUSIC PLAYING]
You know, I think it's absolutely crucial for all of us, whatever form of therapy we're thinking about, to remember the words of Paracelsus,
who was considered the founding father of toxicology. The dose makes the poison. Really, really important to apply to anything.
Think about it. Oxygen in excess is toxic to the body. In fact, it's one of the most toxic things.
It basically causes us to rust. And if you get 100% oxygen, you'll be dead within a very short span of time, just a few days.
So even something essential for life can become harmful if the dose is wrong. That's true of water. Too much water in the blood dilutes out
key nutrients like sodium. And that's potentially life threatening. Too much iron actually increases oxidation in the body
and accelerates that rusting process. It's toxic to the liver. So there's no question that for anything we put into the body, dose matters.
In terms of nutrients, what we're trying to figure out-- and this is definitely a work in progress-- is, what is the therapeutic window?
Most of the dietary guidance we get, like the dietary reference intakes, with the RDAs that are familiar to everybody,
are really about preventing deficiency. Now, that's not the same as optimal health. And probably, it takes more of a nutrient
to help support optimal health than it takes to prevent a deficiency. But how much more? And in what form? And in what combination with other nutrients?
All of that, honestly, is a work in progress. The one thing we know for sure is that, assuming your body
is basically healthy and you're absorbing nutrients right, an optimal diet, a diet of foods close to nature-- vegetables,
fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, the usual suspects-- that will support lifelong good health
and help prevent all chronic disease and slow down the aging process and make you look better, all that good stuff. We're guessing when we try to take the active ingredients
from a healthy diet and infuse it through a syringe. [AUDIO LOGO]
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