Medical Questions » Vitamins Questions » Question No. 1517
| Question: | Can you take too many supplements and are there certain combinations to avoid? |
| Answer: | If you' re pregnant, don' t supplement more than 3,000mcg of retinol, the animal form of vitamin A. Theoretically, you can supplement too much vitamin B6 (1,000mg a day is potentially harmful) and vitamin D (above 3,000mcg can be toxic), but these are massive amounts, 10 times higher than what you find in most megadose supplements.
You have to be more careful with minerals. As little as 3,000mg of ferrous sulphate can cause death in an infant. Some prescribed iron supplements provide 300mg. Therefore, supplements containing a significant amount of iron should be kept in a childproof container away from children. Since iron competes with zinc for absorption, don' t take extra iron without taking extra zinc. Zinc also competes with copper. You need 10 times more zinc than copper. That' s why you are much better off starting by taking an all-round multivitamin/mineral supplement, then adding individual minerals as you need them. |
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