Water Soluble Vitamins and Toxicity

Vitamin toxicity can be defined as a condition in which in individual ends up developing side effects in the form of symptoms after higher than normal dosage of vitamins. The toxicity of vitamins is varied in the fact that the amount required to reach the condition is not the same with different vitamins. The scientific term for vitamin toxicity is hypervitaminosis and you can also see it as vitamin poisoning. It is much more probable in developed countries due to the growing popularity of vitamin supplements and the fact that a lot of people end up treating themselves for various minor illnesses with taking doses of vitamins that are higher than required. There are some conditions that are labeled as vitamin toxicity and are linked with water soluble vitamins. Although these types of vitamins are crucial to the human body, overdose can lead to problems in some cases.

The first problem that needs to be discussed stands in folate as there are over 12 forms of folate although only one will appear when dealing with oral vitamin supplements. If we take in an overdose of folic acid we will end up in time with kidney damage although in normal dosage it is almost nontoxic.

Vitamin B12 is highly important when treating pernicious anemia, a condition common in middle aged and older people. People that are undergoing such treatment do not have problems with toxicity but others that are treated with folic acid instead of Vitamin B12 will have problems as folic acid stops the anemia from developing while allowing nerve damage to happen.

Vitamin B6 can be toxic for our bodies but only when it is 1000 times higher than the recommended daily dose. If you take in 2 to 5 grams daily you can end up with problems in movement and a tingling sensation in your legs and the soles of your feet. Continued overdose will make everything worse but if it is stopped the body recovers in around 2 months although a complete recovery might last up to three years.

Vitamin C is recommended with a daily intake of around 60 mg per day. If you take an overdose it is toxic if you have a family history of gallbladder or kidney stones formation. They are usually made out of calcium oxalate. Oxalate is present in various foods like rhubarb, chocolate, spinach and cocoa and one part of Vitamin C is usually used by our body to produce oxalate. If we have around 3 grams of vitamin C taken in daily the level of oxalate is doubled, thus creating the possibility of stones.

Nicotinic acid is toxic when the RDA gets multiplied by 100. This will cause diarrhea, liver damage, nausea and flushing of the skin. On the other hand, higher dosage of nicotinic acid is also used to lower blood cholesterol when the need to avoid heart diseases is present.

Water soluble vitamins are usually non toxic and minor exceeding of RDA is usually not dangerous unless it happens for a longer period of time. If this is the case however, only in rare occasion the toxicity levels will be so high as to leave permanent damage.