I hear it all of the time. “My doctor told me that if you take more than the RDA you are simply creating expensive urine.” The implication is that taking any multivitamin that contains more than the RDA/DV (Recommended Daily Allowance/Daily Value) is a waste. This is usually followed by a statement endorsing the use of the cheapest vitamin you can find. I will disclose right from the start that I strongly disagree with this point of view and am going to share with you how I have come to this conclusion.

To come to the conclusion that you should not take higher than the RDA/DV, you first have to gain an understanding of what these values actually represent. The RDA/DV are NOT a measure of the optimal amount of a nutrient that you should take each day. In other words, these values do not tell you what amount you should take for optimal health. Also, they DO NOT represent the greatest amount of a nutrient that is safe to take. In general, the RDA/DV are simply the recommended level of nutrients needed so you do not develop deficiency diseases like Scurvy, Beriberi, or Pellagra.

What backs up my position? Simply looking at bottles of vitamins gives you a clearer picture that the RDA/DV has nothing to do with the upper level of safety or the optimal amount to take for health. For example comparing bottles of Flintstone Vitamins and Centrum reveals that a four year old has the same RDA/DV as an adult. Even more ridiculous is that a four year old has the same RDA/DV as a pregnant woman, a teenager, or a 50 year old. Take a look at the chart below:

In addition, the RDA/DV does not take into consideration the amount of stress a person has in their lives, their diet, or any genetic predispositions requiring higher nutrient intakes. So, I ask you how something that suggests the same dose for everyone and doesn’t take into consideration the uniqueness of your life and body could be used to determine the upper levels of what you should take? How could anyone tell you to not take higher than the RDA/DV? In my humble opinion, anyone who spouts this mantra is either completely uneducated in nutrition, is being intellectually dishonest, or is intellectually challenged. Most, in my experience, are completely uneducated in nutrition.

Now, I would like to address the “expensive urine” theory. It is a fact that when you take higher amounts of vitamins you will most certainly excrete more in your urine. This does not mean, however, that you are wasting these vitamins. It has been well established that groups of people need much higher amounts of certain vitamins depending on their individual situations. Take a pregnant woman, for example. She most certainly needs higher intakes of folic acid and iron. Others need higher levels of B vitamins or certain minerals because of poor digestion or genetic problems with their enzymes. Taking much higher than the RDA/DV will be the only way to meet the demands of their bodies. Do they excrete higher amounts of these vitamins in their urine? You bet! Are these vitamins wasted? Not by a long shot because the higher concentrations of these vitamins in their blood initiated chemical reactions that would have otherwise not occurred. In other words, the higher concentration of vitamins in their blood caused good things to happen before they were excreted in the urine. The claim that you simply create expensive urine is a very limited and short-sighted view of how vitamins work in your body.

The important points to take from this article are as follows:

• The RDA/DV does not supply you with any information about the safety of individual vitamins or minerals. When someone states that taking more than the RDA/DV could be dangerous, ask them what they base that on. They will be unable to answer that question.

• The RDA/DV gives you information about the minimum amount your body needs, not the amount you should take for optimal health. The best way to figure out what you should take is to get nutritional advice from someone trained in nutrition. 
• Vitamins and minerals taken at levels above the RDA/DV can exert a beneficial effect for your body before they are excreted. You are not necessarily just producing expensive urine.