Your Vitamins Might Be Hurting You More Than Helping

The wellness world has convinced many of us that when it comes to vitamins and supplements, more equals better. This dangerous misconception has real consequences, as I've witnessed firsthand with patients like Samantha, whose well-intentioned supplement routine led to permanent nerve damage.

Through Samantha's story, we explore how her daily stack of supplements—a multivitamin, B-complex, energy powder, and relaxation gummies—unknowingly delivered 140mg of vitamin B6 daily, far exceeding the upper tolerable limit. After eight months, she developed pyridoxine-induced sensory neuropathy, with symptoms of tingling, burning sensations, numbness, and coordination loss that she initially attributed to perimenopause.

This toxicology principle—"the dose makes the poison"—applies universally. Vitamin A, essential for vision and immunity, can cause liver damage and birth defects in excess. Iron supplementation without testing can be particularly dangerous for those with hemochromatosis, affecting 1 in 200 people of European descent. Even vitamin D, selenium, and other B vitamins follow this pattern—beneficial at appropriate doses but potentially harmful when overconsumed.

Why do whole foods differ from supplements? When nutrients come from food, they arrive with fiber, water, and compounds that help your body regulate absorption. Your body controls how much beta-carotene from carrots converts to vitamin A, but high-dose supplements bypass these natural safeguards. The supplement industry capitalizes on our vulnerability with marketing terms like "megadose" and "pharmaceutical grade," while long wait times for medical care drive many to self-diagnose based on symptoms rather than testing.

The solution isn't avoiding supplements entirely but approaching them wisely: consult healthcare providers before supplementing, get appropriate testing, understand daily allowances and upper limits, check for supplement duplication, choose reputable brands with third-party testing, and prioritize nutrient-rich whole foods first. Your health isn't about adding more—it's about finding that optimal balance where nutrients support rather than harm your body.

Have you checked your supplement stack lately? Share this episode with someone whose medicine cabinet might be putting them at risk.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hey everyone, welcome to Season 2 of the Dr Jules
Plant-Based Podcast, where wediscuss everything from
plant-based nutrition to themain pillars of lifestyle
medicine.
Yo, plant-based buddies,welcome back to another episode.
Today we're going to be talkingabout a super important subject

(00:33):
the hidden risk of overdoingsupplements and vitamins.
Now, you've probably heard it ahundred times if a little is
good, more must be better.
But when it comes to vitaminsand minerals and supplements,
more could actually be dangerous.
So today I'll share a storyfrom my clinic about a patient
whose well-intentionedsupplement routine caused

(00:57):
permanent nerve damage.
We'll talk about why somevitamins can be toxic, how to
spot the warning signs and howto know if you might be
overdoing it with supplements.
Now I remember one of mypatients and I've talked about
him before.
He walked in the office with aSobeys bag filled with something

(01:19):
like three to four hundreddollars per month's worth of
supplements.
Now, for him, this was health.
He was stressed out, he wasn'teating well, he wasn't sleeping
well, he wasn't managing stress,but yet somehow his vulnerable
self was convinced that heneeded all of these supplements.

(01:41):
Now, certain supplements canabsolutely be super.
Creatine is great to improvesports performance and recovery.
Certain green powders may havebenefits in people who don't
have a high quality diet.
Vitamin D supplementation,omega-3, iron in certain

(02:02):
clinical scenarios, where it'suseful, could help, but a lot of
the supplements are not onlynot useful, they could actually
be dangerous.
Now let's talk about Samantha.
Samantha is a 47-year-old womanwho's going through
perimenopause and, like a lot ofwomen in that stage of life,

(02:24):
she wanted to feel moreenergetic.
She wanted to balance herhormones and support her nervous
system, so she booked an onlineconsult with a health coach and
basically started following theadvice she found on social
media.
Now her daily supplement stacklooked a little like this she
was taking a high-potencymultivitamin with 20 milligrams

(02:47):
of B6.
She was taking a B-complex thatalso contained 50 milligrams of
B6.
She had an energy boosterpowder.
She was taking, every morning,twice a day, 30 milligrams per
scoop of B6.
And she was taking nighttimerelaxation gummies that also

(03:09):
contained 10 milligrams perserving of B6.
Now that's about 140 milligramsof vitamin B6 per day, well
above the upper tolerable limitof 100 milligrams per day.
Now, when she first came to seeme, she had been taking this for

(03:30):
over eight months.
At first she felt fine, butover time she started noticing
tingling and burning in her feet, in her fingertips, numbness in
her hands, loss of coordination.
She felt fatigued and irritable.
She chalked it up toperimenopause, like a lot of
women do, but her symptoms keptgetting worse.

(03:50):
Now, when we finally ran thenumbers and started looking at
her supplements, it was clearshe had a very rare condition
called iridoxine-induced sensoryneuropathy.
Basically, it's nerve damagecaused from too much vitamin B6.
And here's the scary partSometimes that damage can be

(04:13):
irreversible.
Don't get me wrong.
Vitamin B6 is an essentialvitamin for brain health,
metabolism and makingneurotransmitters, but in high
doses over long periods it canactually damage the nerves that
they're supposed to protect.
And this is the perfect exampleof the toxicology principle the

(04:40):
dose makes the poison.
And it's not just B6, the samecould apply to water.
If you drink too much water avery important substance that we
would die without you canactually disturb electrolyte
balance, dilute sodium, chloride, potassium and have a

(05:00):
life-threatening conditioncalled hyponatremia, which could
possibly lead to seizures andeven death.
Now many vitamins and mineralshave a sweet spot just enough to
meet your needs, enough to beoptimal, and then you tip into
toxicity territory.
There are a lot of differentexamples of vitamins that do

(05:23):
this.
Vitamin A is vital for visionand for immunity, but in excess
it could cause headaches,dizziness, even liver damage and
even bird defects if it's takenduring pregnancy in high doses.
Whole food sources like carrotsor sweet potatoes and spinach.
They're much safer in terms ofvitamin A because your body can

(05:47):
regulate conversion from betacarotene, whereas supplements
and high-dose supplements couldbypass that safety mechanism
that we have built in.
Now, iron the most commonlydiagnosed deficiency in the
world in terms of a mineraldeficiency.
It's super necessary for oxygentransport, but too much can

(06:11):
cause organ damage, especiallyto the liver and to the heart.
Now this is a big risk factorfor people who take iron.
Just in case, without testing,there's a condition called
hemochromatosis.
It's an iron overload condition.
It affects about one out ofevery 200 people of European
descent and basically it's amutation in a gene that

(06:34):
regulates iron absorption.
So in people who either eatnormal, quantities of iron
typically doesn't pose a problem.
In women who are menstruatingand losing iron every month, it
can fly under the radar foryears.
But in people who either takesupplementation or simply ingest

(06:55):
too much iron, either from foodor supplements, they can
quickly accumulate too much anddevelop symptoms of iron
overload.
Super important vitamins likevitamin D that supports bone
health and immune function, canalso, if taken in excess, cause

(07:19):
problems.
Too much could raise calciumlevels dangerously and
potentially lead to kidneystones or heart issues.
Most toxicities will happenwhen people are taking super
high-dose supplements that areeither not regulated or not
being managed by theirhealthcare provider.
Things as simple as selenium,which is super important for

(07:42):
thyroid function, in excess cancause hair loss and brittle
nails and even otherneurological problems.
And other vitamins of the Bgroup, like vitamin B3, in the
right dose could potentiallylower cholesterol, but in high
doses it can cause flushing andliver damage and even impact

(08:02):
blood sugar and liver damage andeven impact blood sugar.
Now, these aren't rare cases.
The supplement-induced toxicityis one of the most commonly
preventable causes of liverinjury that's reported to poison
control centers.
Just because something isnatural doesn't mean that it's
safe.
Now, when nutrients come fromwhole foods, they arrive in a

(08:26):
package with fiber and water andother compounds that can help
your body use what it needs andexcrete the rest.
We have built-in mechanismsthat regulate absorption Doors
close when we have too much anddoors open when we need more.
Now the reason you don'toverdose on vitamin A after

(08:47):
eating a lot of carrots isbecause your body can control
how much beta-carotene itconverts.
But if you take high-doseretinol supplements, there's no
off switch.
Nature has built-in checks andbalances, whereas pills and
powders they bypass them.
Now, unfortunately a lot ofpeople, they end up

(09:08):
supplementing irresponsibly, butit's not always their fault.
There are other reasons thatpeople end up overdoing vitamins
, and in the industry there's alot of marketing language, and
terms like megadose orpharmaceutical grade or high
potency are often used to makethese vitamins more appealing.

(09:32):
Often, people are takingmultiple products that contain
the same vitamin or mineralwithout knowing that they're
stacking supplements.
Now, if you recall, my47-year-old perimenopausal
patient, samantha was taking aton of vitamin B6, almost 40
milligrams over the uppertolerable limit.

(09:54):
She had been doing that foreight months before we finally
realized that her multiplesupplements all contained small
doses of vitamin B6, but thesedoses added up.
Now I get it.
People are desperate.
People are vulnerable.
People get their information forhealth online.

(10:17):
It takes months to see theirdoctors.
Wait lists are super long.
People tend to associatecertain symptoms they have with
possible deficiencies and theyend up self-diagnosing and
self-treating based on symptomsrather than lab testing.
Now I get it.

(10:37):
Experts tend to talk in nuanceand to appear unsure and to talk
about pros and cons andtrade-offs, whereas influencers
they appear overly confident,often without a shirt and a
six-pack, telling you that thereason that you have headaches

(10:57):
in the morning is because you'renot drinking pink Himalayan
salt, whereas your doctor hasmultiple possibilities that
could explain your symptoms.
He seems unsure.
He wants to do more testing.
I don't blame the public fortrusting influencers without
checking their credentials.
And then there's the emotionalpiece.

(11:18):
If you're tired, if you'restressed or struggling with
symptoms, supplements can feellike a quick fix, and that's
where good medical guidancecomes in.
Now here's how you protectyourself.
Make sure to talk to yourhealthcare provider and consider
getting tested beforesupplementing, especially for

(11:41):
nutrients like iron or vitamin D, vitamin B12.
Very often you do not need someof these supplements if you
have normal blood levels.
You also want to know the RDAand the UL, that's the
recommended daily allowance andthe upper limit.
Make sure to check yoursupplementation stack and

(12:04):
confirm that you're not takingmore than either the RDA or the
UL.
You want to make sure to avoidunnecessary duplication.
If you take a multivitamin,check labels before adding a
B-complex or other blends orpowders, because you could be
stacking up different mineralsthat add up over time, and make

(12:28):
sure to choose reputable brands.
Look for third-party testing,like NSF, for example.
But the general rule of thumbis use food first.
Just make sure to prioritizenutrient-rich foods whole foods
like fruits and veggies, andlegumes like chickpeas, beans,
lentils and soy products, herbsand spices, whole grains, nuts

(12:48):
and seeds.
Nutrient-dense foods thatcontains all of these vitamins
and minerals.
Make sure to do that beforereaching for pills.
Make sure to work with yourhealthcare provider and they can
tailor doses that will fit yourneeds.
Now, samantha's story is acautionary tale.

(13:09):
It's not about avoidingvitamins, but about respecting
them and deficiencies.
Yes, yes, they can harm you,but so can excess.
More is not always better andsometimes less is more, and you
have to think of supplements asa tool, not as a magic bullet.
And the most powerful nutritionstrategy still comes from what

(13:32):
you eat and what you put on yourplate.
If you're unsure, ask yourpharmacist or your doctor before
starting anything new.
Your health is not just aboutadding more.
It's about getting that balanceright and hitting that sweet
spot right on.
If this episode gave you a newperspective and a new respect

(13:54):
for supplements.
Share it with a friend who hasa kitchen cabinet full of
bottles.
Thanks for tuning in.
I hope you learned that thesweet spot, the optimal sweet
spot, is what we should beaiming for, and it's not always.
More is better, right on.
Thanks for tuning in.

(14:15):
We'll see you at the nextepisode.
Hey, everyone, go check out mywebsite plantbaseddoctorjulescom
to find free downloadableresources and remember that you
can find me on Facebook andInstagram at Dr Jules Cormier,

(14:35):
and on YouTube at Client-BasedDr Jules.