Vanadium is a hard, silvery metal, widely scattered throughout nature, but in minute amounts and combined with other elements. A few lower life forms need vanadium, but no vanadium deficiency diseases have been detected in humans. Some important body functions are enhanced by adding trace amounts to your diet, though the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that the amount in some popular nutritional supplements is "alarming and may have toxic consequences."
Daily Dose
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the body contains only 0.1 to 1 mg of vanadium, and recommends nutritional intake of no more than 100 mcg per day. The body absorbs less than 1 percent of any ingested dose, excreting most of it unabsorbed. Parsley, mushrooms, shellfish, black pepper and dill are the best nutritional sources. Dairy products, legumes and fresh fruit are low in vanadium.
Features
Vanadium has been tested as an anti-diabetic agent. According to research cited in a 2006 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the element was found to mimic insulin in laboratory animals. A 2009 University of Maryland Medical Center report cites researchers who found that the element may help human type 2 diabetes patients by lowering blood sugar levels and improving sensitivity to insulin. But the doses were far above the safe upper nutritional level. Studies did not consistently show that vanadium benefits blood sugar control.
Muscle Builder
Studies cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that vanadium acts like insulin in helping to build up skeletal muscle in some laboratory animal tests. It increases amino acid incorporation into muscle protein and suppresses its breakdown. The use of vanadium as a nutritional supplement is based on the inference that the element should act the same way in people, but this has not yet been experimentally proven.
Thyroid
Researchers at Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center in North Dakota have reported that vanadium is important for the metabolism of thyroid hormone and should be considered an essential nutrient. But Forrest H. Nielsen, reporting for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, points out that some nutritional supplements marketed in this context contain 100 to 1,000 times as much vanadium as generally considered safe.
Side Effects
The most prominent effect of excess dietary vanadium is a green tongue. However, other side effects can include a loss of appetite and other gastrointestinal disturbances. Changes in heart rhythm and in some non-specific neurological functions have been reported.
In general, vanadium in small amounts is regarded as essential for human nutrition and may be related to a number of vital body functions. However, evidence for added vanadium is still inconclusive and too much of a good thing may be bad in this case. Caution is advised when adding vanadium to your diet as a nutritional supplement.
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