Does Our Body Flush Vitamins & Minerals To Eliminate Toxicity?

The body requires 13 essential vitamins. To be healthy, you also need both macro and trace minerals. You're unlikely to get vitamin and mineral toxicity from normal food intake, but by supplementing these nutrients, you can possibly take in toxic amounts. Sometimes the body can flush vitamins and minerals to prevent toxicity, and under other circumstances it cannot.

Vitamins

Both plants and animals contain and produce vitamins. These naturally occurring organic compounds assist the body with most important functions, like digesting food or nerve impulse transmission. When vitamins are present in your body in the right amounts, body functions happen at the right time, according to Sharon Lieberman, Ph.D., and Nancy Bruning, authors of the "Real Vitamin & Mineral Book." The water-soluble vitamins -- C and the B vitamins -- only stay in the body briefly. The fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K are stored for longer, though exact storage time is difficult to calculate.

Vitamin Toxicity

You are at most risk to get toxic amounts of the fat-soluble vitamins because they are stored in fatty areas of the body such as the liver. The water-soluble vitamins are excreted in your urine when not needed or supplemented excessively. Taking in more than 10 times the recommended dietary intake may cause your body to become toxic, according to the book "Food & Nutrition," created by the editors of "Prevention."

Minerals

Although minerals function a lot like vitamins by supporting body functions and chemical reactions, plants and animals do not produce them. Magnesium and calcium are examples of macro minerals the body requires. Zinc and iron are micro minerals -- your body needs them in small quantities. You are likely to be lacking in minerals, especially due to the poor mineral content of today's soils, Trace Minerals Research's website suggests. When you ingest minerals, your bones and muscles store them, and you can get too much of these if you supplement with large doses over time or have certain genetic predispositions.

Mineral Toxicity

Your body can become overwhelmed by a certain or multiple minerals, resulting in mineral toxicity. Drinking ocean water or taking too many iron pills could result in this, especially in children. Although the body attempts to flush the system of excess minerals, it cannot always do this without help. Diseases and trauma can cause or exacerbate mineral toxicity, according to the Encyclopedia of Children's Health's website. Hemochromatosis is a genetic disorder causing the body to absorb and store too much iron. In this disease, the body cannot flush out the excess iron without regular blood removal.