OCTOBER 25, 2022
Are you taking too many supplements? – Getty
“Upping your vitamin intake is a great way to get more valuable nutrients into your diet, boosting immunity, gut health, and energy,” nutritionist Rebekah Lamb stated. “Vitamins have a whole host of benefits, and can improve the health of your hair, skin, and nails.” Eating a well-balanced, healthy diet is key in getting the nutrients required by your body.
Yet, in the modern day, lives can feel super busy, which could result in a sub-par diet.
This is where supplements come in handy, but “there is such a thing as too many vitamins”.
Lamb cautioned: “When a person greatly exceeds their recommended daily intake of vitamins over a sustained period of time, they could suffer a vitamin overdose.”
Take, for instance, vitamin D, which “can lead to abnormally high levels of calcium in your blood”.
Lamb warned that overdosing on vitamin D could lead to “high blood pressure [and] kidney stones”.
High blood pressure
An ideal blood pressure reading should be between 90/60mmHg to 120/80mmHg, the NHS says.
If you are below the age of 80 and your blood pressure exceeds 120/80mmHg, then you are on your way to life-threatening conditions.
High blood pressure (specified as above 140/90mmHg) increases the likelihood of a person having a stroke or heart attack.
The condition also hikes your risk of:
- Heart disease
- Heart failure
- Peripheral arterial disease
- Aortic aneurysms
- Kidney disease
- Vascular dementia.
“Around a third of adults in the UK have high blood pressure, although many will not realise it,” the NHS adds.
This is because the condition is mostly symptom less; you must have your blood pressure tested for an accurate reading.
If you are told you have high blood pressure, you will need to incorporate more exercise into your daily life and cut down on fatty foods.
Is your diet healthy?
Kidney stones
Larger kidney stones can lead to “extremely painful” sensations, say the NHS.
The pain can radiate at the side of the stomach or groin and, in men, pain can occur in the testicles.
This condition can lead to a high temperature, sweating, severe pain that comes and goes, nausea, blood in urine, and a urine infection.
Calcium stones are the most common type of kidney stone, which can develop into a variety of sizes, shapes, and colours.
Some kidney stones can be as small as grains of sand, while others can be as large as a golf ball.
“The best way to prevent kidney stones is to make sure you drink plenty of water each day to avoid becoming dehydrated,” the health body states.
The safest way to consume supplements, in order to minimize the risk of high blood pressure and kidney stones, is to only take the recommended amount.
