Medicine: Too Much of a Good Thing

The well-advertised bottle of vitamins has earned itself such a prominent place on the American breakfast table that many a mother has been moved to cram the kids with pills. If a little of the stuff is good—so the reasoning runs—a lot must be better. Not so, says Orthopedic Surgeon Charles N. Pease; parents should pay more heed to warnings about the possible dangers from vitamin overdosage. In the A.M.A. Journal, Dr. Pease cites specific examples of damage done by too much vitamin A: it has stunted children's growth or left one leg two to three inches shorter than the other.

Even...

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