More vitamins are not better

Filed in archive Opinion on August 2, 2005

A Canadian physician suggests that too many vitamins are not a good thing. In many instances (i.e. vitamin E), there is no good data supporting its use:

In a case of too much of a good thing, doctors are seeing patients with serious health problems caused by too many vitamin and mineral supplements.

"We have people coming in taking up to four times the daily dose of calcium and as well, two, three, four times the amount of vitamin D," said Dr. Ellen Burgess, who runs the hypertension research clinic at the University of Calgary.

Burgess, who asks every patient about their vitamin and mineral intake, says too much can damage arteries, cause high blood pressure or cause painful kidney stones. "As with many things, although some is good, more is not necessarily better," Burgess said. "Without reading the package, without knowing exactly what you're taking, you can get yourself into problems."

("Doctor warns too many vitamins not a good thing", CBC News, Aug.2)