Vitamin D Pills May Be Dangerous for Teenagers

Vitamin D pills are quite popular, but scientists suggest that providing obese teenagers with many of them may have adverse consequences. The new research of Mayo Clinic Children’s Center on childhood obesity advises that vitamin D pills may elevate adolescents’ cholesterol and fat-storing triglycerides levels.

VITAMIN D IS NOT THAT BENEFICIAL. YET.

Dr. Seema Kumar, a pediatric endocrinologist from Mayo Clinic, has been studying the effects of vitamin D for 10 years, but recently she came up with a discouraging conclusion:

“After three months of having vitamin D boosted into the normal range with supplements, these teenagers showed no changes in body weight, body mass index, waistline, blood pressure or blood flow,” she says, “We are not saying the links between vitamin D deficiency and chronic diseases do not exist for children – we just haven’t found any yet.”

VITAMIN D PILLS ARE NOT SLIMMING

While teenage obesity has quadrupled in the past thirty years, many studies indicate that vitamin D deficiency can lead to a series of weight-related medical complications. As a result, worried parents and providers increase the recommended daily intake, in an attempt to fight the clinical complications associated with obesity.

Dr. Kumar, however, notes that the pills’ popularity as a homeopathic weapon against obesity is what made her want to study their effects on overweight teenagers, a population at increased risk for chronic disease.

BE CAREFUL WITH THE INTAKE

Dr. Seema Kumar says that she is surprised that she and her team haven’t found more health benefits, but she made clear that, while vitamin D supplements at reasonable doses are not harmful at all, their usefulness for improving overall health in adolescents is still not clear.

Also, if you ingest too much vitamin D, you will suffer from a condition called hypervitaminosis, which can result in poor appetite, nausea, vomiting or even kidney complications.