Can you overdose on vitamins and minerals?

Question

I saw something about that and I know that things like vitamin c and iron are good for you but can they be fatal?

Answer 1

yes

Answer 2

Yes it can be fatal

Your body needs a good balance of lots of different things in order to work right. If too much of any one or two things is in your system, you can get very sick or even die.

Answer 3

Well if you have to much of ANYTHING it will be fatal. But yes to much iron and vitamin c can be very harmful.

Answer 4

Yes, you can overdose on water.

Too much of anything can move from being helpful to dangerous.  It is hard to overdose on vitamins and minerals though since the body can only process 50%-75% of the vitamins and minerals that you get in pill, tablet or supplement form.  Your body gets more nutrients from processing food than from pills; that's why the astronuts eat real food.

Some combinations of vitamins can cause problems, just like grapefruit juice and a specific heart medication can cause a stroke.  Large doses of calcium, salt and vitamin C can create kidney stones.  You can also do liver damage with other combinations.

According to Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin

"In large doses, some vitamins have documented side effects that tend to be more severe with a larger dosage. The likelihood of consuming too much of any vitamin from food is remote, but overdosing from vitamin supplementation does occur. At high enough dosages some vitamins cause side effects such as nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting."

See the chart for a list of vitamins and what problems an overdose can cause.

Answer 5

Anything can be fatal if taken in excess. Taking too much Vitamin C causes diarrhea, although the amount must be very high, for Vitamin C is readily excreted (due to being water-soluble). On the other hand, iron is not easily removed from the body, and iron, like all other transition-metal ions, can interfere with cellular activity. Taking too much iron leads to tissue damage.