Over-the-counter supplements present 'substantial risk' for the uninformed

(Image credit: pinkomelet/ iStock)

published 8 April 2019

When it comes to taking extra doses of vitamins, the risks might outweigh the rewards.

A 54-year-old Canadian man found this out firsthand when he discovered he had significant kidney damage — not due to disease, but due to the high doses of vitamin D he'd been taking daily for the past two years, Science Daily reported.

The man's case, first recorded in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, is a strange one; he was prescribed over-the-counter vitamin D supplement drops by a naturopathic doctor, even though he didn't have a history of vitamin D deficiency or bone loss, which vitamin D can help with. He nonetheless took about 10 times the recommended daily dose for a healthy adult, which over time led to a buildup of calcium in his blood.

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Although small doses of many over-the-counter drugs can be harmless and even helpful, the prevalence of these types of medications and unsupervised home remedies can pose "a substantial risk to uninformed patients," wrote Dr. Bourne Auguste, the author of the CMAJ article. So it's becoming increasingly important for both patients and doctors to be "better informed about the risks" of taking too much vitamin D.

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Shivani is the editorial assistant at TheWeek.com and has previously written for StreetEasy and Mic.com. A graduate of the physics and journalism departments at NYU, Shivani currently lives in Brooklyn and spends free time cooking, watching TV, and taking too many selfies.

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