{"id":87134,"date":"2025-05-09T10:38:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T10:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/87134\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T10:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T10:38:11","slug":"doctor-issues-warning-over-popular-supplement-that-could-trigger-organ-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/87134\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor issues warning over popular supplement that could trigger organ damage"},"content":{"rendered":"

A GP has urged those who plan to take vitamin D to have a blood test to check their levels beforehand\u2014as overdosing could result in heart and kidney damage<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking in a video that has so far been watched over 52,000 times, Dr Asif Ahmed, revealed that he has seen far too many people taking a ‘crazy’ high dose of vitamin D, which can cause abnormal heart rhythms, kidney failure and bone pain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is currently estimated that around one in six adults in the UK do not get enough vitamin D\u2014while some people, according to Dr Ahmed are overdosing on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also known as the ‘sunshine vitamin’, the main source is exposure to sunlight, as well as from foods like oily fish, red meant and egg yolks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NHS<\/a> guidelines suggest taking a vitamin D supplement throughout the winter months, when there is less sunshine, but Dr Ahmed said taking too much of the vitamin could be dangerous.<\/p>\n

‘Taking vitamin D at high doses long term is actually very dangerous, because it can cause hypercalcemia’, Dr Ahmed explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is where excess calcium is deposited into the bloodstream, increasing the risk of heart and kidney disease.<\/p>\n

Dr Ahmed explained that, unlikely other supplements that are difficult to overdose on, as excess comes out in your urine, vitamin D is fat soluble, which means it hangs around in the body.<\/p>\n

\u00a0‘A lot of the time when you take a high dose of vitamins, its not that dangerous because their water soluble and you just pee it out,’ the GP explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘With fat soluble vitamins, like vitamin D however, we can’t get rid of excess vitamins therefore it just accumulates in the body,’ he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This can weaken the bones, and damage the kidneys and the heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘When it comes to dosage, I’ve seen people taking crazy high doses of something they’ve bought online, like 10,000 international units, which is a dose I wouldn’t recommend for anyone,’ the GP warned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NHS advises not to take more than 4,000 units of vitamin D a day. This applies to adults, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, the elderly, and children aged 11 to 17.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Dr Ahmed, most people only need around 10 micrograms, which is equivalent to 400 units.<\/p>\n

\"Vitamin <\/p>\n

Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body – keeping bones, teeth and muscles healthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Whilst <\/p>\n

Whilst Dr Ahmed agreed that the optimum range is likely higher than the ones usually stated, he said taking too much vitamin D can be really dangerous, especially if you don’t get your blood checked regularly<\/p>\n

While Dr Ahmed agreed with NHS guidelines that recommend a supplement dose of no more than 100 micrograms units a day, he said some people do need a much higher dose.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘These are patients who have very low vitamin D on their blood tests’, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the US, the minimum threshold of vitamin D, set out by the institute of medicine, is 20ng\/ml.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the UK’s threshold for deficiency is much lower, at 12ng\/ml, a level that has long been criticised by international health experts.<\/p>\n

‘The amount you need as a supplement depends on your symptoms, your ethnicity, your skin colour, but also your blood test result’, Dr Ahmed cautioned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is why the doctor, who has over 95,500 followers on Instagram, urged anyone who takes vitamin D supplements to get a blood test to see if they are taking too much of the so-called sunshine vitamin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said: ‘I urge most people taking vitamin D supplements to get their levels checked regularly.<\/p>\n

You have to take it carefully and responsibly and not take too much of a high dose.’<\/p>\n

Dr Ahmed is not the first medic to warn against megadoses of vitamin D.<\/p>\n

NHS surgeon Doctor Karan Rajan previously suggested looking for vitamin D supplements that contain vitamin K2, which helps reduce the risk of calcium being deposited in the blood stream.<\/p>\n

While supplements can help to boost vitamin D levels, experts say adequate sunlight exposure and a healthy diet that includes things like oily fish, red meat and fortified foods, are the best sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A GP has urged those who plan to take vitamin D to have a blood test to check…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[92,105,211,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-87134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-nhs","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114477446276543547","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}