Why do multi vitamins cause nausea?

Answer 1

A multivitamin contains some nutrients that should not be taken on an empty stomach. That could be the reason nausea is experienced. To avoid that, take vitamins with food.

Another explanation:

Ok. So I'm a medical student and feel extreme nausea every time i take my multi vitamin on an empty stomach. This is usually easily resolved by popping some food in my mouth. I've noticed, the higher the fat content of the food i eat, the faster the feeling goes away. So here is my educated physiology asnwer to this question.

Nausea/vomitting is not well understood, but there are vomitting centers in your brainstem that respond both to chemoreceptors (toxins/Allergies/etc) and to motion (from your ear).

What happens when you eat a multivit, is you take a very large dose of essential ions, 'vital amines', and sometimes metals such as zinc and iron. all of these are necessary for your bodys daily use, but taken in large amounts set off toxin triggers in your brain.

Eating food dilutes the effects of these more 'toxic' necessities and your brain doesn't see the amount you just ingested as harmful. I believe that some of these components are most likely fat soluble, and therefore eating something with some fat such as yogurt or cheese allows for even faster dilution of your multi vitamin.

Answer 2

Although it is possible to overdose on the vitamins that are not water soluble (A, D, and E) it is extremely unlikely that any multivitamin has such a large quantity of these vitamins that it could cause an overdose. More likely, I would suspect that the brand of multivitamin you are using is contaminated. Not all manufacturers maintain the standards of purity that they should. It is also possible that there is added lactose as a filler, and you may be lactose intolerant.

Answer 3

I do not believe that coated multi vitamins would make one nauseous unless an individual took more than one a day.

Answer 4

Most definately.