Limits for vitamins and minerals in food supplements

There are still no legally binding maximum values for vitamins and minerals in Europe.

The values published by the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) for the "Tolerable Upper Limit" UL are still the most suitable as an indication of how much of minerals and vitamins one can consume daily without harming the body.

The UL is a value that refers to the harmless long-term daily intake over months or years for healthy people. If a therapist prescribes a much higher amount to his patient for a short period of time, there is certainly a reason for this, especially since this is then a dose for sick people and not for healthy people, which is also only taken over a foreseeable period of time.

The actual daily requirement of a person is determined by the German Nutrition Society (DGE) or all 3 corresponding authorities from Germany, AustriaandSwitzerland(DACH). This value has relatively little to do with the NRV, i.e. the value that European authorities have set as the reference value for the nutrient tables on the vitamin and mineral doses. The DGE is made up of doctors and scientists, the EU is made up of bureaucrats. Therefore, the values of the DGE / DACH should apply as orientation values for an adequate supply.

Irrespective of these values, which apply to healthy average persons, sick people must observe special conditions. Micronutrients are not only helpful to influence diseases, unfortunately there are also diseases or medicines that are not compatible with certain micronutrients. Extensive information on this can be found in a brochure published by the consumer advice centre. Unfortunately, it is entitled "What dietary supplements are allowed to conceal...", so it already indicates that the author rather comes from the line of thinking "either for or against orthodox medicine". We see no reason for this. Why should an "either-or" approach be helpful here, when a combination of conventional medicine, naturopathy and orthomolecular medicine can achieve better results?
However, since the content of the brochure is absolutely correct, we have nevertheless included this link and ask people in special situations (chronically ill, pregnant women...) to pay attention to it.

Of the numerous sources of information and regulations, Switzerland's Maximum Quantity Ordinance is the most recent (valid from 1.7.2020). See last column.
On the one hand, this has the advantage that this set of regulations is based on much more recent and up-to-date sources than, for example, the partly outdated EU data or somewhat older sources on the upper limit.
On the other hand, it also contains strange sections that we cannot quite understand, e.g. the extreme regulation of zinc or the ban on processing vitamin A pure. There are e.g. some possible examples of use where this would be better, e.g. thinking of someone who is a smoker (should take less beta-carotene) but has skin problems (here vitamin A / retinol pure is more helpful than beta-carotene).

The instructions of DGE / DACH are exclusively aimed at healthy average citizens. However, many of our customers are not exactly these but e.g. elderly and chronically ill.
Many governmental statements show that they are either scientifically hopelessly outdated, e.g. for example, the long outdated value for vitamin D, or also reveal lobbying influences through regulations that show little connection with the findings of scientific research.
We assume that our customers are able to inform themselves and are competent enough to make their own decisions about their health.

Another note for our Swiss customers: The new Swiss regulation has brought about very big changes.
Unfortunately, we can no longer export some products such as zinc over 5.3 mg or pure vitamin A to Switzerland. We could do so without any legal consequences for us, but Swiss customs would confiscate them.
In this case, the only option is the one used by many Swiss, namely delivery to a parcel station near the border.

Biotin

Sources:

¹ NRV (nutrient reference value): Food Information Regulation LMIV (REGULATION (EU) No. 1169/2011 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL) - reference value for the indication on the packaging / can, not identical with the "daily requirement" according to the DGE!

² German Nutrition Society, Austrian Nutrition Society, Swiss Society for Nutrition Research, Swiss Nutrition Association (eds.): Referenzwerte für die Nährstoffzufuhr. Bonn, 2nd edition, 1st edition (2015) - Medizinisch-Wissenschaftlich gesicherter Tagesbedarf!

³ EFSA (European Food Safety Authority). Tolerable upper intake levels for vitamins and minerals. European Food Safety Authority, Parma, Italy. 2006 - n.a. = no information due to lack of scientific basis; safe = no information, as not toxic even in large quantities - scientifically proven value, should be adhered to, possibly the basis for later legal EU-wide maximum quantity limits!

⁵ Unit information according to COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No. 1170/2009 of 30 November 2009. The information on the vitamin E content (α-TE = Total alpha-tocopherol equivalents) refers to the effect of the various forms of vitamin E. 1 mg aTE corresponds to: 1 mg alpha-tocopherol, 2 mg beta-tocopherol, 4 mg gamma-tocopherol, 100 mg delta-tocopherol, 3.3 mg alpha-tocotrienol, 6.6 mg beta-tocotrienol, 13.2 mg gamma-tocotrienol.

⁶ Some carotenoids are converted to vitamin A in the body and are to be indicated in the table, converted to RE = retinol equivalent. 6 mg beta-carotene or 12 mg other carotenoids (lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin) correspond to 1 mg vitamin A . Betacarotene does not play a role with regard to a toxic increase in vitamin A intake, but a high intake poses other health risks. For this reason, food supplements with >= 2 mg of betacarotene must bear the warning: Betacarotene should not be taken by heavy smokers (>20 cigarettes/day) over a longer period of time (source).

⁷ Nicotinic acid + nicotinamide are toxicologically different, therefore UL nicotinic acid 10 mg, UL nicotinamide 900 mg. BfR recommends using only nicotinamide!

⁸ Vitamin A can easily be overdosed. This is why there are few pure vitamin A preparations in Germany; mostly beta-carotene is added, from which the body can form vitamin A without the risk of overdose. This is probably also the reason why Switzerland does not allow pure vitamin A in food supplements at all!