The shelf for vitamins and dietary supplements at a pharmacy in Stockholm is well stocked.
– Here is a buffet. Most of it is completely unnecessary for the common man, says Martin Bergö, pro-rector of the Karolinska Institute and professor of molecular medicine, when he looks through the selection.
In the middle of cold, dark January, it can be tempting to use different tricks to keep your energy up. Many choose to take dietary supplements to replenish their vitamin D stores. Martin Bergö, who has researched, among other things, the effect of dietary supplements, is worried about the increased use of vitamin D supplements.
– If you look at the whole, you can see that it has no effect for a healthy person, he says and instead points to the risks of overdose:
– Then the calcium level in the blood increases and this can lead to problems for the kidneys and heart and other more serious complications.
Increased sales and more on prescription
The four largest pharmacy chains in Sweden state to SVT Nyheter that sales of vitamin D have increased by 5-12 percent per year in recent years. But there has been an even greater increase when it comes to vitamin D on prescription – according to the National Board of Health and Welfare, the discharge increased by almost 500 percent between 2013 and 2023. At the same time, the number of Swedes diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency has not increased.
– The rhetoric today is that half of Swedes have low vitamin D levels and that it is extremely important that we take food supplements. I think that many doctors get hooked on it, says Martin Bergö.
Hear Martin Bergö in the video above about the use of vitamin D