While all vitamins are safe if consumed at recommended levels, taking too much of a particular vitamin can be dangerous. However, depending on your age and medical condition, your doctor may recommend higher-than-normal doses of one vitamin and caution on another. Pregnant women, for example, should take higher amounts of vitamin D than are normally recommended, while too much vitamin A can cause birth defects.
Water Soluble Vitamins
Many vitamins, such B vitamins are water soluble, which means your body doesn't store them. As a result, they're safe and you're unlikely to overdose on them. Vitamin B-1 or thiamine, for example, is an important vitamin for metabolic health, as it helps the body convert carbohydrates into glucose. The safest way to take thiamine or any of the B vitamins is in a vitamin B complex form, because that will help ensure you don't get too much of any one B vitamin. Vitamin C is another water-soluble vitamin, but it's still not wise to consistently go beyond the recommended requirements for vitamin C, which are 75 mg for women and 90 mg for men, unless instructed to by a doctor.
Dosages
Most vitamins taken at recommended dosages are safe, unless you have a specific medical condition that warns against particular vitamins, such as someone on blood thinners taking too much vitamin K. Just as medications are recommended in smaller doses for children than adults, so too are vitamin consumption. Vitamin E, a fat soluble vitamin meaning it stays in the body longer, should be consumed by adults at about twice the levels it is for kids. A child of 10, for example, needs around 10 IUs of vitamin E, while most adults need around 22.5 IUs. A pediatrician can advise you on vitamin levels for your child and your doctor can do the same for you. Geriatricians should be consulted for older adults and their changing vitamin needs, too. Most vitamin supplements are safe and following the recommended dosage levels is a way to keep them that way.
Vitamin A Advice
Vitamin A is a vitamin is a nutrient found in many common foods, such as dark green and orange vegetables, eggs and fortified cereals. Because most people can get their daily requirements of vitamin A in food, vitamin A supplements aren't always needed. And, as an example, teenagers using acne medications such as Accutane, should avoid vitamin A supplements, because many oral and topical acne medications contain vitamin A. Too much vitamin A can make you sick and even change your skin color. Just the right amount can help bolster your immune system and keep cell production thriving.
Considerations
When considering single vitamin supplements or multi-vitamins, you should ask your doctor about whether supplementation is safe for you or your children. If you take vitamins and miss a day, don't don't double up your vitamins the next day. If you're trying to calculate how much of a particular vitamin to consume each day, don't forget the vitamin contents of the food you eat, too.
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