Vitamin D has important role in optimizing the absorption of calcium and phosphorous. The lack of it could affect more than 2,000 genes in your body. Vitamin D naturally could be easily obtained from the direct exposure of the sun not more than 10 minutes a day but it is not all, with recent lifestyle that possible to prevent you from getting the health amount of sunshine due to some factors like pollution and obligation to work inside, vitamin D still could be obtained from foods and supplements. However, you have to be really careful when it comes to Vitamin D supplements which mostly produced in higher dosage than what you will get from sunshine or foods, you must be aware of the side effects of taking too much Vitamin D.
Side Effects of Taking Too Much Vitamin D Most People Don’t Know
Taking too much Vitamin D is also well known as Vitamin D toxicity or hypervitaminosis D. This condition is considered as a rare condition in medical field but still possible to happen for those who take Vitamin D supplement without prescription from doctor. Most people who are suffering calcium deficiency is recommended to take Vitamin D supplement, so it is no longer a rare case for a person to take Vitamin D daily today. However, consuming it in higher dose than prescribed or consuming in the right dose but in long term could trig the side effects.
- Hypercalcemia
Hypercalcemia is a condition when the level of calcium in blood is too high. It is caused by liver is producing too much 25(OH)D which is the direct effect of taking high dose f Vitamin D in a long term.
- Kidney Disease
Kidney disease is closely related to how hard kidney should work if Vitamin D is entering body in high dose. The high level calcium as the effect of taking too much Vitamin D could harden the artery which could cause a serious kidney problem.
- Kidney Stone
Too much calcium entering kidney while water consumed is less than required could cause a serious problem like kidney stone because not all of calcium was washed away with urine or absorbed by body system, the remains calcium will stay inside the kidney and in long term could form kidney stone.
Symptoms of Taking Too Much Vitamin D:
- People is easily loosing appetite and feeling thirsty all the time.
- Constipation and diarrhea
- Passing urine often due to too much calcium entering kidney causes the excessive urination
- In worst case, people will easily get tired and confused/disoriented.
- Weight Loss due to loosing appetite.
- High Blood Pressure
- Muscle Weakness; a person who is suffering Vitamin D Toxicity will suffer regular pain in muscle and bones.
- Nausea and Vomiting
Safe Ways in Taking Vitamin D as Your Daily Health Solution
It is true that taking too much Vitamin D could cause some serious health problem but it doesn’t mean that you should avoid it in all cost. Learning about the right dose a person should take per day could help you understanding more about how to optimize the using of Vitamin D for the sake of your health:
- Learn about the IU (International Unit) contained in one tab/cap /softgels of Vitamin D. For example there are some supplements that offer 400 IU/cap or 1,000 IU/cap. You should learn about the daily dosage that you should take. If your need of Vitamin D is lower than 400 IU per day then you should choose supplements that offer 50-100 IU/cap/softgels/tab. If you take more than what you need, the risk of suffering Vitamin D toxicity will be higher.
- If you purchase Vitamin D supplement for the whole family you need to learn about the right dose for everyone because the dosage required by the adults is different with the dosage required by children, and the dosage required by older people age more than 50 is also different with the dosage required by middle-aged adults.
- The last thing you should learn when it comes to the dosage of Vitamin D is the maximum amount of Vitamin D a person could take. For example:
- Taking 10,000 IU/day will not cause Vitamin D toxicity but if you take it in a whole 3 months or more, the Vitamin D toxicity might appear.
- Taking more than 300,000 IU/day could be dangerous for adults.
- For children, even taking only 2,000 IU/day for three months could cause a serious Vitamin D toxicity.
- Consulting your doctor regarding the dosages as well as the preventive actions if somehow one of your family members is suffering hypervitaminosis Vitamin D.
Read : Vitamin D Deficiency
Whatever supplements products you are taking right now, learning about its side effects and the safest way to take it is not something you could took for granted. If you don’t follow the rule, instead of healthy lifestyle you have dreamed of, you will suffer the opposite just because the lack of information. This is just one example that even the harmless Vitamin D could have the side effects that could endanger your healthy lifestyle if you’re taking it too much.