UMEM Educational Pearls

Title: Vitamins - Which Ones Have Toxicity?

Keywords: vitamins (PubMed Search)

Posted: 5/17/2012 by Fermin Barrueto, MD (Updated: 4/26/2024)
Click here to contact Fermin Barrueto, MD

More and more people are going to holistic medicine and "naturopaths". These have been an interesting source of toxicology case reports due to therapeutic misadventures. Vitamins have been an ever increasing adjunct to these health philosophies. The following are the vitamins and their related toxicity in overdose:

Vitamin A: Pseudotumor cerebri, increase ICH, hair thinning, hepatotoxicity

Vitamin D: Hypercalcemia

Vitamin E: can antagonize vitamin K particularly in vitamin K deficient people, could result in coagulopathy

Vitamin K: problem if supplement contains this and patient on coumadin, ask patient

Vitamin C: Association with increased kidney stones though controversial