High vitamin A intake may cause seizures in children, experts warn
Medical experts have warned mothers against giving their children excessive multivitamins, warning that it could lead to serious health problems.
According to them, giving children too much vitamin A can affect the brain and even cause seizures.
They noted that what children need to grow and thrive is proper, quality food, not dietary supplements.
The Mayo Clinic says taking high doses of vitamin A supplements can also damage the liver.
"Combining high doses of vitamin A supplements with other drugs that can damage the liver may increase the risk of liver disease.
"Too much vitamin A can be harmful, and too much vitamin A during pregnancy has been linked to birth defects," says the Mayo Clinic.
Doctors have said so in exclusive interviews with PUNCH Healthwise, urging parents to see children as human beings and not as pathological entities.
Speaking to our correspondent, a professor of pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics, College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Olugbenga Mokuolu, said that at the Except for a particular deficiency, children do not need routine nutritional supplements.
Prof. Mokuolu, who is also a consultant pediatrician at Ilorin University Hospital, said it was wrong to give children multivitamins to improve their appetite.
The pediatrician explained, "In general, vitamins are safe. Like I said, you can take vitamins for what they are. They are very useful, they help to control the maybe abnormal products in the reaction of the body and they are also necessary for the growth of the body.
"Vitamins are a class of drugs and there are several varieties with different consequences.
"So when you talk about vitamins, you're not just referring to a drug. So you have vitamin A, you have what's called vitamin B complex which has several subsidiaries under it, you have vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E and then you have vitamin K. So there are different classes of vitamins.
"For example, anything with vitamin A, you want to make sure it is not taken in excess. This can affect the brain and cause seizures in children when 'he consumes too much.'
The researcher noted that when dietary supplements are given for the wrong reasons, it defeats their usefulness, however adding that most vitamin supplements available are vitamin B and not A.
"But most of the vitamin products that are sold, fortunately, generally belong to the vitamin B category and that is why we have not recorded the consequences of the level of use at which the people submitted it. .
"Thank God these are relatively safe compounds, but not all of them. When given in excessive amounts, they can begin to cause problems for some babies.
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Medical experts have warned mothers against giving their children excessive multivitamins, warning that it could lead to serious health problems.
According to them, giving children too much vitamin A can affect the brain and even cause seizures.
They noted that what children need to grow and thrive is proper, quality food, not dietary supplements.
The Mayo Clinic says taking high doses of vitamin A supplements can also damage the liver.
"Combining high doses of vitamin A supplements with other drugs that can damage the liver may increase the risk of liver disease.
"Too much vitamin A can be harmful, and too much vitamin A during pregnancy has been linked to birth defects," says the Mayo Clinic.
Doctors have said so in exclusive interviews with PUNCH Healthwise, urging parents to see children as human beings and not as pathological entities.
Speaking to our correspondent, a professor of pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics, College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Olugbenga Mokuolu, said that at the Except for a particular deficiency, children do not need routine nutritional supplements.
Prof. Mokuolu, who is also a consultant pediatrician at Ilorin University Hospital, said it was wrong to give children multivitamins to improve their appetite.
The pediatrician explained, "In general, vitamins are safe. Like I said, you can take vitamins for what they are. They are very useful, they help to control the maybe abnormal products in the reaction of the body and they are also necessary for the growth of the body.
"Vitamins are a class of drugs and there are several varieties with different consequences.
"So when you talk about vitamins, you're not just referring to a drug. So you have vitamin A, you have what's called vitamin B complex which has several subsidiaries under it, you have vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E and then you have vitamin K. So there are different classes of vitamins.
"For example, anything with vitamin A, you want to make sure it is not taken in excess. This can affect the brain and cause seizures in children when 'he consumes too much.'
The researcher noted that when dietary supplements are given for the wrong reasons, it defeats their usefulness, however adding that most vitamin supplements available are vitamin B and not A.
"But most of the vitamin products that are sold, fortunately, generally belong to the vitamin B category and that is why we have not recorded the consequences of the level of use at which the people submitted it. .
"Thank God these are relatively safe compounds, but not all of them. When given in excessive amounts, they can begin to cause problems for some babies.
Please share this story:
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