[net.med] Vitamin Rebound?

lute@abnjh.UUCP (J. Collymore) (08/31/83)

Does anyone know what happens if you take a lot of Vitamins, and then suddenly
stop taking them?  I've been taking Centrum for over 2 years now.  It has
everything "from A to Zinc" near or exceeding 100% of the RDA.  Does the body
become accustomed to that after N years of daily intake, and if so, is there
some sort of shock to the system when that source and quantity of nutrition
is suddenly stopped?  If there is a reaction to the be expected, what form
would that reaction take?


					Jim Collymore

dyer@wivax.UUCP (09/01/83)

There was some research a while ago (around the time of Linus Pauling's
"Vitamin C and the Common Cold") which indicated that suddenly withdrawing
from megadoses of Vitamin C would cause lower-than-normal levels of the
vitamin in the blood.

If you're taking one or two Centrum tablets a day, I doubt very much that
stopping them would have any effect (other than strictly psychcosomatic.)
Perhaps if you were a real vitamin phreak, taking megadoses, it might be
more prudent to taper off.