Too Much of A Good Thing?

Too much of a good thing can be bad. That applies to vitamins and nutrients as much as everything else in life.

Experts warn that four common nutrients – iron, and vitamins A, D and B6 – can reach toxic levels in the body if consumed carelessly.

At Auburn University, Dr. Robert Keith, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System nutritionist and professor of nutrition and food science, couldn’t agree more. Part of the problem, he believes, stems from the widespread fortification of foods with these nutrients – a practice begun decades ago to reduce the incidence of serious, but once all-too-common diseases such as rickets, pellagra and goiter.

As Keith and other experts are learning, what started out as a noble undertaking to safeguard against disease has begun working against us in a few cases.

“We’re consuming things that we never imagined would have vitamins and minerals placed in them,” Keith says. “And, of course, cereals go all the way from being a little fortified to products in which you can get 100 percent of all the recommended dietary allowances (RDA) for most vitamins and minerals.”

Add to this the fact that roughly 70 percent of Americans take dietary supplements. Forty percent are taking them regularly.

“So we’re concerned that with some vitamins and minerals, we may have some people going in the opposite direction. Instead of being deprived of many essential vitamins and minerals, they may be getting too much of them.”

Posted by Jim Langcuster at February 25, 2004 08:02 AM | TrackBack