Training & Nutrition - Vitamin overdose?

Does anyone worry about getting too many vitamins? I take a vitamin pill about 3 times a week, plus there's all that stuff added to Power Bar type foods, plus I've been drinking that Propel stuff and Slimfast, which has vitamins added, plus I've been eating healthy foods.

But I'm waking up half these mornings feeling lousy. I'm wondering if too many vitamins may be the trouble.

Anyone else had any problems like this?

My understanding of Vitamins is that they serve as co-factors and if you have a certain minimal level everything is fine. Most people in the 1st world eat more than enough food and a wide enough variety that you can get all the vitamins you need from a normal diet. I would be extremely surprised if the vitamin supplement your taking is doing anything for you besides making expensive urine. Many vitamins are water soluable (the B's and C) and spend a short time in your body (do you notice your urine is bright yellow/orange) a few hours or so after your taking the vitamins. That's the water soluable one's coming out. On the other hand some are fat soluable (A and I think D) you can take too much of these. But I think it's relatively hard to O.D. to the point where you cause problems. If your really worried about it look up the fat soluable vitamins and find out what symptoms of taking excessive amounts are and what kind of dosages you have to be taking to get the symptoms. I'd be extremely surprised unless you have some weird dietary constraints that you could possibly not getting enough vitamins esp. if your taking a supplement.

I wouldn't worry about taking too many vitamins. Like WayneS said, most of the stuff just gets washed out your system if you don't need it. Just don't take too much Vitamin C, this might give you diarrhea.
I take a multi-vitamin every morning and if I've got a cold another Vitamin C in the afternoon.

You can get vitiman A poisoning from eating polar bear liver. You have been warned!!!

Originally posted by WayneS
On the other hand some are fat soluable (A and I think D) you can take too much of these. But I think it's relatively hard to O.D. to the point where you cause problems.

Hmmmm, my vitamin pill provides 100% of my vitamin A for the day, a can of Slimfast adds another 35%, a bowl of cereal with milk adds 15%, and a single serving of baby carrots supplies 270%, which means that if I scarf the whole bag as munchies, I am probably getting 12 times the requisite amount of Vitamin A....maybe I'd better look that one up. (Polar bear liver, anyone?)

Originally posted by Inkwolf
Does anyone worry about getting too many vitamins?

...I'm waking up half these mornings feeling lousy. I'm wondering if too many vitamins may be the trouble.
I think you should trust how you feel about it. How can it hurt you to experiment with taking fewer synthetic supplements? I have wondered about this, too: taking 100% (or 200%, or sometimes 1000%) of the daily allowance of a supplement, concentrated in a single pill along with dozens of other supplements in similar megadoses, is not my idea of natural.

I remember a study in which smokers were given vitamin A over a number of years to determine how much this valuable antioxidant would actually protect against cancer. The results actually showed an increase in the incidence of cancer among those who took the vitamin A! In the end, the researchers found that vitamin A taken alone can deplete the body's vitamin E, another valuable antioxidant thought to protect against cancer.

I am a believer in trying to get as many nutrients from my food as possible. This involves eating as many fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts as possible (easy on the nuts, they are high in fat, though it's usually "good" fat) and eating them in as close a form as possible to how they occur in nature. The less processing, the more goodies inside.

Studies are revealing more and more that there are many, many natural substances we need from plants that have never been isolated and put in a pill. Furthermore, I prefer natural forms of vitamins over synthetic ones.

Still, I take over-the-counter vitamin/mineral supplements. But I break the pill in half and take it on a full stomach, and not everyday.

:)

boy, is this a loaded question with many answers. i'll try and be brief here.
Firstly, the USDA of all vitamins was developed in the 40's and 50's before foods became 'vitamin fortified' and people got scurvy, etc. these guidelines have not been updated since.
secondly, multivitamins give general protection, but as cyclists we need antioxidants to prevent the free radicals from reaking havoc with our systems. i recommend 1000mg vitamin C (time-release) twice a day, the d-alpha vitamin E in 400 IU daily, and 100mcg of selenium. you could throw in zinc if you wanted to. this can be in addition to a multi, as most only have 60mg vitamin C, etc.
more later if/when time and interest allows.

Originally posted by MichaelW
You can get vitiman A poisoning from eating polar bear liver. You have been warned!!!

Oh shoot! Thanks for telling me... I eat polar bear liver every day! LOL :)

Originally posted by Inkwolf
Does anyone worry about getting too many vitamins? I take a vitamin pill about 3 times a week, plus there's all that stuff added to Power Bar type foods, plus I've been drinking that Propel stuff and Slimfast, which has vitamins added, plus I've been eating healthy foods.

But I'm waking up half these mornings feeling lousy. I'm wondering if too many vitamins may be the trouble.

Anyone else had any problems like this?

Generally in order to have vitamin toxicity problems, you have to eat incredible doses of them. Even people who pop large numbers of vitamin pills generally do not experience problems. I suppose some nuts out there do, but it would take heroic quantities.

Vitamin A poisoning has been well documented. It takes a potload of Vitamin A to have toxic effects. It has generally been observed in polar explorers who have gotten it from eating sled dog livers and as one poster here reported, polar bear livers.

Some people take antioxidants for their supposed health benefits. I don't think any benefits have ever been documented but they probably are not hurting themselves either.

Originally posted by RiPHRaPH
i recommend 1000mg vitamin C (time-release) twice a day.
A Powerade bottle holds enough orange juice to provide plenty of vitamin C (about 400% RDA), plus the potassium of over a gallon of Powerade, if you want to go the natural route.

Peanuts are a good source of vitamin E and the oils in them help cleanse the arterial walls. Not arguing with Riphraph here, just offering options.

well, i don't really know anything scientific, but here's just what i do and think:

it's often really bad to have a deficiency of any vitamin, and generally moderate levels above the 'recommended' levels is no problem, so i usually take a multi-vitamin and have at times taken Vit A, E and just started taking Magnesium and bought some calcium too. the latter 2 are supposed to somehow help in muscle recovery and prvent muscle soreness - according to a cycling trainer specialist at my recent MTB distance race-training weekend.

as has been said, i think natural forms are better because they're generally easier to absorb and w/o all the side stuff like presevatives or whatever (well, maybe not since most foods these days are also loaded with chemical, but another topic)

also, if you train hard then you need higher levels of many vitamins to sustain and optimize your performance and recovery - i eat and burn something like twice the 'recommended' calories in a day and still have less than 10% body fat, so having more than the 'recommended' levels is to be expected since i'm eating more food.