Vitamin D: Warning signs you are deficient and the symptoms of taking too much

Дата публикации: 02-03-2025 19:13:30

Too much vitamin D could be as bad for you as not getting enough – so what's the right daily dose?

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Too much vitamin D could be as bad for you as not getting enough – so what's the right daily dose?

As we near the end of winter, millions of Brits are likely lacking the 'sunshine vitamin'. Every autumn, the NHS urges everyone in the UK to take a daily vitamin D supplement in order to keep our bones, muscles, and immune system healthy.

Vitamin D has several vital functions. It regulates the absorption of calcium, needed for our bones and teeth, and phosphorus which helps the immune system to function properly.

A deficiency in this vital vitamin could be behind a number of symptoms that many of us experience, but taking too much vitamin D can have the opposite effect – so what's the happy medium?

The NHS says 10 micrograms (μg), or 400 International Units (IU), is the correct vitamin D supplement dosage for most people. Babies, up to the age of one year old, need between 8.5 and 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day.

Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency

According to the NHS, a severe deficiency in vitamin D can result in bone deformities such as rickets in children, as well as bone pain in adults, which is caused by a condition known as osteomalacia.

For most people, the main symptoms of vitamin D deficiency are bone pain or unexplained tiredness or fatigue, the NHS says. According to Yale Medicine, other symptoms include:

• Muscle pain
• Increased sensitivity to pain
• A 'pins-and-needles' sensation in the hands or feet
• Muscle weakness in the upper arms or thighs
• Muscle spasms

The best ways to get vitamin D

The body creates vitamin D from direct sunlight on the skin when we go outdoors. During winter, most of us don't get enough vitamin D from the sunshine (or lack thereof), meaning we need to get it from our diet or supplements.

According to the British Skin Foundation, "for lighter skin types, daily sunlight exposure for 10-15 minutes between April and September provides sufficient year-round vitamin D," but a review published in 2022 found that around one in 6 adults and almost 20 per cent of children in the UK have vitamin D levels lower than government recommendations.

According to the NHS, the best food sources of vitamin D include:

• Oily fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel
• Red meat
• Liver
• Egg yolks
• Fortified foods like some fat spreads and breakfast cereals
• Dietary supplements.

The signs you are taking too much vitamin D

One clinical trial, conducted in Canada, found that high doses of vitamin D can cause a range of symptoms, and may even reduce bone density.

Over a period of three years, researchers looked at the effects of different dosages of the supplements on 311 healthy adults between the ages 55 and 70. One group received the optimal dose of 400 IU, another took 4,000 IU per day, and the third took 10,000 IU per day.

They measured the bone mineral density (BMD) of the participants, which is a measure of calcium and other important minerals in the bone. People on the highest dose saw a 3.6 per cent drop in bone density, the middle dose group saw a 2.6 per cent drop, and the optimal dose group saw just a 1.4 per cent drop.

Professor Steven Boyd, the study’s co-author, said: "We were surprised to find that instead of bone gain with higher doses, the group with the highest dose lost bone the fastest.

"That amount of bone loss with 10,000 IU daily is not enough to risk a fracture over a three-year period, but our findings suggest that for healthy adults, vitamin D doses at levels recommended by [health officials] are adequate for bone health.”

The NHS says taking too many vitamin D supplements over a long period of time can cause hypercalcaemia, when too much calcium builds up in the body, which can weaken bones and damage the heart and kidneys.

Signs of taking too much vitamin D include:

• Dehydration
• Fatigue
• Nausea and vomiting
• Muscle weakness
• Thirst
• Constipation

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