Vitamin D overdose: more poison emergency calls in 2022 – heart attack possible?

Created: 12/21/2022, 06:30

By: Juliane Gutmann

Anyone who takes vitamin D in the form of dietary supplements at their own risk runs the risk of a dangerous overdose.

It has been proven that a sufficiently high vitamin D level is important for an intact immune system.

But what about the assumption that vitamin D prevents infection with Covid-19?

The late David A. Jolliffe of Queen Mary University of London and his colleagues addressed this question as part of the CORONAVIT study.

The results were published in the summer of 2022. The analysis of the data from over 6,000 study participants showed that taking vitamin D preparations had no preventive effect, and all study participants had the same risk of developing the disease.

But is it true that vitamin D deficiency and heart attack risk are related?

This conclusion could be drawn from some studies, such as the American Framingham Heart Study.

According to this, a lack of vitamin D in the blood would more often lead to a heart attack or a stroke, the portal informed

.

Danish researchers also come to the conclusion that too little vitamin D in the blood promotes strokes and heart attacks.

Still other analyzes show no connection: “Last year, for example, the results of a very large study were reported in which it was examined whether supplementation with vitamin D protects against cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

Neither this study nor previous, smaller studies were able to show a benefit of vitamin D supplementation with regard to cardiovascular events," informs Professor Hans Hauner on the website of the German Heart Foundation.

Many regularly take vitamin D in supplement form.

That carries risks.

© Anneleven/Imago

Nevertheless, many people take vitamin D supplements without consulting a doctor – with potentially dangerous consequences.

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Possible consequences of an overdose of vitamin D

You can have your vitamin D level checked by your doctor.

If this is too low, taking vitamin D supplements makes sense.

But if you take vitamin D capsules without a doctor's advice, you risk an overdose.

“Excessive intake of vitamin D causes increased calcium levels (hypercalcemia) in the body, which can lead to acute nausea, loss of appetite, abdominal cramps, vomiting or, in severe cases, to kidney damage, cardiac arrhythmias, unconsciousness and death.

Since vitamin D can be stored in the body, both an acute and a gradual overdose are possible,” informs the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

Strengthen the immune system and thus prevent flu and corona – eight simple rules

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As reported by the poison information center in Erfurt, more inquiries were received in 2022 due to high-dose vitamin D preparations.

There have already been 162 such cases this year, 31 more than in 2021, said the head of the poison information center in Erfurt, Dagmar Prasa, of the German Press Agency.

However, Prasa concedes that most of the requests were for one-off, accidental overdoses that are relatively harmless.

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How vitamin D works in the body - and how we get enough of the sun hormone

On the one hand, vitamin D can be ingested through food, but the majority of the so-called sun hormone is formed by the body itself - by being in the sun.

, a sufficiently high vitamin D level in the blood is

so important because it strengthens the immune system and thus protects against respiratory infections.

It is also important for bone stability.

, cardiologist Professor Wolfram Delius from the Professional Association of German Internists (BDI) adds

that an adequate supply of vitamin D is also important because it affects blood pressure and blood vessels and can prevent osteoporosis.

You can read here how much sun you should soak up in the sun every day in order to consume enough vitamin D.

Also good to know: Ideally, you should avoid showering for four to six hours after sunbathing with vitamin D outdoors so that the hormone cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) can form in the skin.

Heart attack from too much vitamin D?

Danish researchers led by Peter Schwarz from the University of Copenhagen came to the conclusion in a study that an overdose of vitamin D can also increase the risk of heart attack.

After analyzing the data from around 250,000 Danes, it was shown that mortality from cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks increased when the vitamin D3 level in the subjects was above 40 nanograms per milliliter.

As the knowledge portal

further reported, further studies would have to follow to substantiate these findings.