If you or your child has eaten too many gummy vitamins, you should call Poison Control immediately.
But it's unlikely you'll need emergency aid if you eat too many gummy vitamins.
Eating too many gummy vitamins may cause diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, or headaches.
Visit Insider's Health Reference library for more advice.
While indisputably more appetizing than regular vitamins, gummy vitamins make it hard for children to differentiate between them and candy. This can cause unintended overconsumption.
In fact, poison control centers report getting phone calls every day about children eating large amounts of gummy vitamins - sometimes 20, 30, or even 40 at a time.
Here's what happens when you or a child takes too many gummy vitamins, and if you need to seek medical attention.
It is possible to take too many gummy vitamins, but often this does not warrant medical attention.
Gummy multivitamins contain a variety of vitamins and minerals, some of which are toxic in large doses and others that are not. These include:
Water-soluble vitamins: These include vitamin C, biotin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B12, folic acid, and vitamin B6 all of which are typically found in gummies. The body doesn't store water-soluble vitamins so excess amounts are excreted through urine and don't cause an overdose.
Fat-soluble vitamins: These include vitamin A, vitamin D, and vitamin E. These vitamins are stored in fat, so it is possible to accumulate toxic amounts, though the symptoms are often moderate to mild.
Minerals: These include potassium, calcium, sodium, and zinc. Minerals maintain the water balance in the body and perform certain tasks, like helping blood clot or building bone. You can overdose on minerals, but most induce vomiting before that occurs.
General advice: It's important to note all gummy vitamins differ in terms of the recommended dosage. To know how many gummy vitamins are too many, follow the label instructions closely.
Here's a breakdown of common vitamins, at what amount they become toxic, and about how many gummy vitamins it would take to reach that toxicity point. It's important to note that this is just an example using two types of multivitamins ( Nature Made Kids First for children, and Nature Made Multivitamin gummies for adults), but each multivitamin varies in terms of how much and what types of vitamins they contain. Therefore, how many vitamins it will take to reach toxic amounts varies depending on the product.
"Typically, you would probably not see any effects from a one-time overdose but should still call poison control," says Susan B. Daly, MD, FAAP a pediatrician from Be Pediatrics in Savannah, Georgia.
What to do if you or your child has eaten too many gummy vitamins
If you think you or your child has taken too many gummy vitamins, here are some steps Daly recommends you take:
Call the Poison Control number immediately: (800) 222-1222.
Try to document how many vitamins were taken and what time your child ingested them. It's also a good idea to have the child's height and weight so that toxicity can be determined.
Follow Poison Control's recommendations. They may even recommend you take your child to the ER where they monitor symptoms and flush out toxins.
If your child has consistently been taking above the recommended dosage of gummy vitamins for a long period of time, they may develop chronic toxicity, which warrants a trip to the doctor.
Signs of chronic toxicity include:
Muscle and bone pain
Hair loss
Calcium deposits
Gastrointestinal distress
Headache
Insider's takeaway
While the number of vitamins and minerals in children's gummy vitamins shouldn't cause a fatal overdose, caregivers should always treat ingesting too many vitamins as an emergency situation and immediately call Poison Control for Assistance. You should also keep gummy vitamins out of reach of children.
Related articles from Health Reference:
The science-backed benefits of vitamin D and how to get enough of it
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The best vitamins to help your hair's growth, thickness, and overall health.
Symptoms can range from mild to severe and may include headaches, dizziness, muscle pain, changes in urine or stool colour, and even liver failure or coma in extreme cases. Mineral Toxicity: Excessive intake of minerals like iron, calcium, and potassium can lead to mineral toxicity.
Generally, it's difficult to overdose on gummy vitamins if you're taking the recommended serving size. If you take too many, your body may communicate through symptoms, including digestive troubles, changes in smell or taste or dental issues.
What are the consequences of consuming excessive amounts of gummy bears? Consuming excessive amounts of gummy bears can have negative consequences such as flatulence, gut-churning, diarrhoea, cardiovascular disease, gaining weight and diabetes type 2.
The symptoms of a vitamin overdose depend on the vitamin and the amount taken. Some vitamin overdoses start off with mild symptoms like stomach upset and vomiting, and then progress into more serious symptoms. Other vitamin overdoses cause very few or no symptoms.
What are the drawbacks to gummy vitamins? The way gummy vitamins are made — in particular, the gelatin they're made with — makes them less reliable as a package for nutrients. And all the sugar they're made with isn't great for you either.
“Symptoms of an overdose are stomach upset, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, flushing, change in urine or stool color, serious headache, dizziness, muscle pain,” Udabor says, adding that some people can even experience liver failure and coma from a vitamin overdose.
Water-soluble vitamins, like C, B and folic acid, aren't stored in the body and need to be topped up frequently to maintain healthy levels. However, you can only absorb so much and any that your body can't use are passed out of the body when you urinate.
Over-intoxication can take the form of anxiety and panic, nausea and vomiting, and symptoms of psychosis (paranoia). Be patient and go slow, ingesting edible cannabis with no more than 2.5 mg of THC at a time. Chocolates and brownies with cannabis in them look like chocolates and brownies without cannabis in them.
Wait It Out. The effects of edibles can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours to kick in, and they can last several hours, depending on the dose and individual factors. ...
Hydrate. Drink plenty of water to help flush the THC out of your system. ...
Combining multiple supplements or taking more than the recommended dose might raise the risk that they can cause harm, said Kitchin. To lower your risk of an overdose, try looking for a multivitamin with no more than 100% of the daily value for any one nutrient to avoid an overdose, said Kitchin.
The fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K, are stored in the body for long periods of time and generally pose a greater risk for toxicity than water-soluble vitamins when consumed in excess.
However, similarly to vitamin K, certain water-soluble vitamins have no observable toxicity and hence no set UL. These vitamins include vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), vitamin B7 (biotin), and vitamin B12 (cobalamin) ( 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ).
There are a few potential culprits behind vitamin-related nausea: You're taking your supplements on an empty stomach. You're sensitive to certain nutrients. Your vitamin's ingredients aren't optimized to be gentle on the stomach.
Sugar alcohols, which are natural sugar substitutes that come from fruits and berries, are commonly found in vitamin gummies and may cause digestive issues like nausea, bloating, and diarrhea. Gummy vitamins are often loaded with artificial food dyes, fillers, and other things to give them an appealing texture.
It's tempting to take more than the recommended dose of vitamins when they taste like candy. But you need to be careful because it is possible to overdose on specific vitamins, including vitamins A, D, E and K. Too much iron and zinc can also cause side effects, such as diarrhea, stomach pain and vomiting.
Sugar alcohols are associated with gastrointestinal issues and can have a laxative effect — and people who can't consume sorbitol and similar sugar substitutes should steer clear of gummy vitamins entirely. Finally, although gummy vitamins can be easier on your stomach than traditional vitamins, Dr.
It would be difficult to reach this level consuming food alone, but some multivitamin supplements contain high doses of vitamin A. Retinol is the form of vitamin A that causes the greatest concern for toxicity.
This isn't immediate cause for alarm. If you accidentally take two of your multivitamin in the same day, don't panic—you should still be fine. This is more about consistently taking too much of a supplement, even if it's something like calcium that you know is key for your health.
Introduction: My name is Kelle Weber, I am a magnificent, enchanting, fair, joyous, light, determined, joyous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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