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Too Much = Bad

- Too much of metals like iron, copper, cobalt, manganese and zinc is pro-oxidative (16), damaging nutrients, arteries (17) messenger substances, cell DNA (18) and enzymes (19), increases heart attack risk, and can cause diabetes (20), colon cancer (21) Parkinson's disease (22) and infertility. (23)
When weak or sick, the body for example decreases iron level, to protect itself against viruses that need iron to grow. Unfortunately, most physicians think this requires supplementary iron; they often call it anemia.
So why are especially those metals recommended more and more?
- Too much of one mineral decreases levels of other minerals/trace elements. (24)
- Supplementary selenium can enhance cancer. (25) Selenium compounds can react upon glutathion (an antioxidant) originating aggressive peroxides and oxygen radicals. (26)
- Too much calcium causes osteoporosis and arteriosclerosis.
- Too much iodide and bromium is pro-oxidative too (27), and can increase thyroid activity. (28)
- Too much fluoride is toxic and increases hip fracture risk. (29)

Too much of almost any vitamin can be extremely harmful as well:
- Too much vitamin A is cancerous. (30)
- Too much β-carotene increases lung cancer risk in smokers. (31)
- Like vitamin K, vitamin C can be pro-oxidative and kill healthy cells. (32) Too much vitamin C decreases vitamin B12 level (33) and increases activation of mutagenic HCA from food. (34) Vitamin C can enhance tumors (35), and increases oxidative free iron level. (36)
- Too much vitamin D can cause arteriosclerosis and bone deformation. (37)
- Excess vitamin E can cause bleeding in the brain (38) and impair immune system reactivity, which can cause cancer or arthritis. (39) Very often in skin cancer (and sometimes in breast cancer (40)), cells contain more vitamin E, unbalancing antioxidant status, increasing susceptibility to oxidative radicals. (41)

Unfortunately, official recommendations always are far too high. Consequently, a minimum 10,000 calories a day should be recommended to make sure everybody eats enough, but they must have realized not many people would buy that.

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Abstracts of most sources can be found at the US National Library of Medicine

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