Question

2. Although vitamins and minerals are vital for the proper functioning of human cells, excess intake of certain vitamins and minerals can have deleterious consequences in the human body. Suppose you were to ingest all vitamins and minerals daily, but in slightly excessive amounts each day, over a long period of time.

Which effects would you expect to observe first: those of an excessive intake of watersoluble vitamin, or those of an excessive intake of a fat-soluble vitamin, or those of excessive intake of a mineral? Briefly explain your reasoning.

Which effects would you expect to be easier to reverse: those of an excessive intake of water-soluble vitamin, or those of an excessive intake of a fat-soluble vitamin, or those of excessive intake of a mineral? Briefly explain your reasoning.

Answer 1

Vitamins and minerals are very important for the daily proper functions of our body. But, anything if taken in excess amount can cause harm to our body.

Water soluble vitamins - vitamins which are soluble in water are called water soluble vitamins. Water soluble vitamins are generally not stored in our body.

The excessive amount of water soluble vitamins can cause some Side Effects like diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting.

But as said earlier they are not stored in the body and are excreted from a body on the daily basis in the urine. The chances of developing toxic levels of water soluble vitamins is very rare. But if you take the mean high levels it is likely to observe side effects very early.

Fat soluble vitamins - vitamins are categorised on the basis of their solubility and fat soluble vitamins are those which soluble in fat. Unlike water soluble vitamin, they are stored in our body with fat tissues.

They do not show side effects early like water soluble vitamins. They are stored in fat tissue and with everyday build up they produce Side Effects after they reached the toxic levels.

Some of the side effects of fat soluble vitamins are - weight loss, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headache, Blurred vision, increased calcium levels in the blood etc.

Minerals - minerals very important for the normal body development and growth. Some of the minerals you need in in higher amount are called macronutrients and some of them are needed in very trace amount in our body called micronutrients.

In Normal amount minerals are helpful for every part of a body but in higher amounts that can be toxic and produce some serious side effects. The amount after which minerals stop producing side effects in our body is called mineral toxicity.

Important minerals include Sodium, Potassium, magnesium, Iodine, calcium, phosphate, zinc, copper etc.

Side effects include diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting constipation, thyroidism, weight gain or weight loss etc.

According to to above information, fat soluble vitamins and minerals take time to accumulate and reach toxicity level in our body. Water soluble vitamins show their symptoms very easily and very early.

The side effects produced by the fat soluble vitamins and minerals can be very serious at toxic levels but the side effects produced by water soluble vitamins are quite minor and as they are continuously removed for a body they are very easy to reverse.