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Is Vitamin D Toxic?
Posted on Aug 23rd 2010 12:00PM by Jonny BowdenFiled Under: Nutrition & Supplements
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The answer is yes. (And please don't stop reading here.) The question became a lot more than theoretical when a case involving well-known health guru Gary Null came to light recently.
Null reportedly became very, very sick from taking too much vitamin D. This case was even weirder because the source of vitamin D was his own product, Ultimate Power Meal.
Ultimate Power Meal was labeled as containing 2,000 IUs of vitamin D, an amount I personally recommend as the minimum adults should supplement with (but that's just my opinion). Unfortunately, his supplier and formulators made a bit of a mistake and left off a few zeros: Ultimate Power Meal actually contained 2,000,000 -- that's 2 million -- IUs per serving, not 2,000.
That means in a month, he consumed 60 million IUs (Null consumed and 100 times the amount someone popping a 2,000 IU pill on a daily basis would consume). Null reportedly fully recovered within three months of stopping the defective supplement. Nonetheless, the question remains: Can vitamin D be toxic?
And the answer is of course, just like water and oxygen and omega-3's can be toxic. But the number of cases in which that happens are about as common as an appearance by Bill Clinton at a fundraiser for Sarah Palin.
Vitamin D may help with your running performance too. Find out if you can run faster by getting more of this vitamin.
Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life. You can visit his Web site to learn more.
Ultimate Power Meal was labeled as containing 2,000 IUs of vitamin D, an amount I personally recommend as the minimum adults should supplement with (but that's just my opinion). Unfortunately, his supplier and formulators made a bit of a mistake and left off a few zeros: Ultimate Power Meal actually contained 2,000,000 -- that's 2 million -- IUs per serving, not 2,000.
That means in a month, he consumed 60 million IUs (Null consumed and 100 times the amount someone popping a 2,000 IU pill on a daily basis would consume). Null reportedly fully recovered within three months of stopping the defective supplement. Nonetheless, the question remains: Can vitamin D be toxic?
And the answer is of course, just like water and oxygen and omega-3's can be toxic. But the number of cases in which that happens are about as common as an appearance by Bill Clinton at a fundraiser for Sarah Palin.
The Vitamin D Council did a little digging and found studies going back to the '30s in which patients were treated with 200,000 IUs a day for arthritis at the University of Illinois School of Medicine.
While the vast majority of patients improved substantially, about 10 percent got sick. The doctors in charge simply took the patients off that dose and told them to drink lots of fluids, and ultimately all recovered quite nicely. Other studies going way back show administration of what we would consider insane amounts (ranging from 150,000 IUs to 300,000 IUs a day for extended periods).
Most showed no ill effects over a short course of treatment (remember, Null took 200,000 IUs daily for more than three months). Now listen carefully. I am not -- I repeat -- not in a million years recommending any dose like that or anything even near it. But I think it's really important to look beneath the inevitable headlines and sound bites about the Null case ("vitamin D is toxic," "health guru Gary Null made terribly ill by vitamin D," etc.) and realize that we are talking about thousands of times the dose I and other health professionals recommend.
If you are concerned about your level of vitamin D, a blood test is readily available. It's called a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D test, and the majority of people in this country come up low. By even the most outdated and conservative standards, less than 37.5 is generally considered inadequate, although many experts consider the low end to be 75. Consistent levels of greater than 500 are considered toxic, with symptoms including nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, constipation, weakness and weight loss.
Very few foods in nature have a lot of vitamin D, and our national sun phobia hasn't helped the situation. However, a fair-skinned person can produce a daily dose of vitamin D in just 10 to 15 minutes in the sun without sunscreen. While the vast majority of patients improved substantially, about 10 percent got sick. The doctors in charge simply took the patients off that dose and told them to drink lots of fluids, and ultimately all recovered quite nicely. Other studies going way back show administration of what we would consider insane amounts (ranging from 150,000 IUs to 300,000 IUs a day for extended periods).
Most showed no ill effects over a short course of treatment (remember, Null took 200,000 IUs daily for more than three months). Now listen carefully. I am not -- I repeat -- not in a million years recommending any dose like that or anything even near it. But I think it's really important to look beneath the inevitable headlines and sound bites about the Null case ("vitamin D is toxic," "health guru Gary Null made terribly ill by vitamin D," etc.) and realize that we are talking about thousands of times the dose I and other health professionals recommend.
If you are concerned about your level of vitamin D, a blood test is readily available. It's called a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D test, and the majority of people in this country come up low. By even the most outdated and conservative standards, less than 37.5 is generally considered inadequate, although many experts consider the low end to be 75. Consistent levels of greater than 500 are considered toxic, with symptoms including nausea, vomiting, poor appetite, constipation, weakness and weight loss.
Vitamin D may help with your running performance too. Find out if you can run faster by getting more of this vitamin.
Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life. You can visit his Web site to learn more.
