You can overdose on Vitamins and Minerals

It’s very easy to take too many vitamins, because so many food products like cereal and milk are fortified with them, so when you have a vitamin pill, you could easily go over the Upper Tolerable Limit. Since there’s no evidence vitamin pills and supplements do good, and there is evidence that they do harm or are ineffective, why take them?

Recommended Daily Allowance & Upper Limits for Vitamins and Minerals

The Institute of Medicine has determined upper limits for 24 nutrients. Here is a chart comparing the RDA and UL for all of them. This table only applies to adults age 19 or older. It also does not apply to women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. (Source: September 2012 ConsumerReports p 21 and Institute of Medicine).

Vitamin or Mineral	Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) or Adequate Intake (AI) **Nutrients with AIs are marked with an ()***	Upper Tolerable Limit (UL) *The highest amount you can take without risk*
Boron	Not determined.	20 mg/day
Calcium	Age 1-3: 700 mg/day Age 4-8: 1,000 mg/day Age 9-18: 1,300 mg/day Age 19-50: 1,000 mg/day Women age 51+: 1,200 mg/day Men age 71+: 1,200 mg/day	Age19-50: 2,500 mg/day Age 51 and up:2,000 mg/day
Chloride	Age 19-50: 2,300 mg/day Age 50-70: 2,000 mg/day Age 70 and older: 1,800 mg/day	3,600 mg/day
Choline (Vitamin B complex)	Age 70 and older: 1,800 mg/day Women: 425 mg/day *	3,500 mg/day
Copper	900 micrograms/day	10,000 micrograms/day
Fluoride	Men: 4 mg/day * Women: 3 mg/day *	10 mg/day
Folic Acid (Folate)	400 micrograms/day	1,000 micrograms/day
Iodine	150 micrograms/day	1,100 micrograms/day
Iron	Men: 8 mg/day Women age 19-50: 18 mg/day Women age 51 and up: 8 mg/day	45 mg/day
Magnesium	Men age 19-30: 400 mg/day Men age 31 and up: 420 mg/day Women age 19-30: 310 mg/day Women age 31 and up: 320 mg/day	350 mg/day
Manganese	Men: 2.3 mg/day * Women: 1.8 mg/day*	11 mg/day
Molybdenum	45 micrograms/day	2,000 micrograms/day
Nickel	Not determined	1.0 mg/day
Phosphorus	700 mg/day	Up to age 70: 4,000 mg/day Over age 70: 3,000 mg/day
Selenium	55 micrograms/day	400 micrograms/day
Sodium	Age 19-50: 1,500 mg/day Age 51-70: 1,300 mg/day Age 71 and up: 1,200 mg/day	2,300 mg/day
Vanadium	Not determined	1.8 mg/day
Vitamin A	Men: 3,000 IU/day Women: 2,310 IU/day	10,000 IU/day
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)	Men: 16 mg/day Women: 14 mg/day	35 mg/day
Vitamin B6	Men age 19-50: 1.3 mg/day Men age 51 up:1.7 mg/day Women age 19-50: 1.3 mg/day Women age 51 up: 1.5 mg/day	100 mg/day
Vitamin C	Men: 90 mg/day Women: 75 mg/day	2,000 mg/day
Vitamin D (Calciferol)	Age 1-70: 15 micrograms/day (600 IU, or 800 international units) * Age 70 and older: 20 micrograms/day	100 micrograms/day (4,000 IU)
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)	22.4 IU/day	1,500 IU/day
Zinc	Men: 11 mg/day Women: 8 mg/day	40 mg/day

About Alice

I've milled and baked with whole grains for many years, because whole grains are delicious, and white flour is missing the nutrition that protects you from cancer, stroke, heart disease, diabetes and many other diseases. Plus it's a good emergency food.

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