Higher than Recommended Daily Allowances...Good or Bad?

Dempsey

I was inside a Holland & Barrett store (1st time there) today looking to get centrium (multivitamin) and they didnt have any but the guy recommended the store brand superone formula.

I got it because at a quick glance it had alot of what centrium has except higher RDA's on alot of the vitamins especially the B vitamins.

e.g.
Vitamin A 94%
Vitamin E 340%
Vitamin B2 3125%
Vitamin B12 2500%

I am active but are these too high still? Is there any vitamin that has serious adverse effects from exceeding the RDA?

EileenG

Don't worry about it. You'll just pee out any excess. If your urine is suddenly very yellow, that's the extra B vits disappearing.

In many cases the offical RDA is way too low. 60mg vitamin C is the amount you need not to get scurvy, not what will keep you in good health. And the RDA for vitamin D has been raised hugely recently, but not in Ireland. In any case, the vit D requirement would be higher in a country like Ireland which doesn't get much sunlight.

The ones to watch for overdoses are Vitamin A if you are pregnant, and iron, particularly if you are male. A lot of breakfast cereals have added iron (Special K is notorious for this) and if you combine this with a diet with sufficient iron, plus an iron supplement, it's easy to get to unhealthy levels.

Haemochromatosis (iron overload) is very common in Ireland, and has very few symptoms until you are in the last stages.

Dempsey

Thats good to know, always thought the "glow in the dark" urine was from colouring used in the likes of Berocca, not actual vitamins dissipating. Learn something new everyday!

Iron is 107% plus about 25% from cereal in the morning. I know it will vary from individual to individual but is there a rule of thumb or article that would explain how to know if you are intaking too much iron?

Would the RDA's not be kept in line with the EU? This bottle is marked "EC RDA" and the centrium one is marked "EU RDA". I see some other stuff marked just "RDA". Are these all different rating systems?

EileenG

There is a theory that the EU are deliberately keeping vitamin RDA's low, so that people won't take dangerous amounts by accident. It would be more credible if they didn't allow so much piecemeal adding of vitamin and minerals to food and without any warnings.

The conspiracy theory is that the EU is under a lot of pressure from Big Pharma to keep vitamin levels low so that you can never take a theraputic dose, and have to take the medication instead.

If you are male, I would try to get my iron from food, and find a supplement that contained no or less iron. Females have a monthly mechanism for getting rid of excess iron. There is no real indication you have too much iron, things like upset tummy, fatigue, low sex drive etc would be a lot of other things.

Dempsey

Yea, I wondered that myself but they do warn people not to use salt because you'll probably exceed your RDA anyways through what you eat. I suppose there is common sense to what they are doing with RDA's and vitamin supplements for those people who live in offices and their diet is just really bad but misinformation for people trying to stay really healthy/fit, athletes etc

EileenG

Again, the salt thing is based on worst case. If you are an athlete who regularly scapes salt crystals off your face, you need a lot more than the RDA.

All I can suggest is you do your own research. Use Google scholar to get at proper information, rather than just opinion pieces.