Vanadium

Special Precautions of Vanadium

• Vanadium is LIKELY SAFE in adults, if less than 1.8 mg per day is taken. At higher doses, such as those used to treat diabetes, vanadium frequently causes unwanted side effects including abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, nausea, and gas. It can also cause a greenish tongue, loss of energy, and problems with the nervous system.
• Vanadium is UNSAFE when used in large amounts and for a long time. This increases the risk of serious side effects including liver and kidney damage.
• Vanadium might lower blood sugar. People with diabetes should check their blood sugar carefully and watch for signs of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia ).
• Vanadium is LIKELY SAFE in children when taken in amounts found in foods. Don’t give children supplements. Not enough is known about the safety of these larger doses in children.
• Pregnancy and breast-feeding: If you are pregnant or breast-feeding, limit your intake of vanadium to the amount found in food. Not enough is known about the safety of taking larger doses.
• Diabetes: The vanadyl sulfate form of vanadium might lower blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. Monitor your blood sugar carefully.
• Kidney problems: There is developing evidence that vanadium might harm the kidneys. If you have kidney disease, don’t use vanadium supplements.
• Medications for diabetes (Antidiabetes drugs) interacts with VANADIUM
• Vanadium seems to decrease blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes medications are also used to lower blood sugar. Taking vanadium along with diabetes medications might cause your blood sugar to go too low. Monitor your blood sugar closely. The dose of your diabetes medication might need to be changed.
• Some medications used for diabetes include glimepiride (Amaryl), glyburide (DiaBeta, Glynase PresTab, Micronase), insulin, pioglitazone (Actos), rosiglitazone (Avandia), chlorpropamide (Diabinese), glipizide (Glucotrol), tolbutamide (Orinase), and others.
• Medications that slow blood clotting (Anticoagulant / Antiplatelet drugs) interacts with VANADIUM
• Vanadium might slow blood clotting. Taking vanadium along with medications that also slow clotting might increase the chances of bruising and bleeding.
• Some medications that slow blood clotting include aspirin, clopidogrel (Plavix), diclofenac (Voltaren, Cataflam, others), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others), naproxen (Anaprox, Naprosyn, others), dalteparin (Fragmin), enoxaparin (Lovenox), heparin, warfarin (Coumadin), and others.
• Use of vanadium may trigger several side effects, including stomach pain, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.

The benefits of Vanadium are

Vanadium acts just like insulin to remove excess glucose from your bloodstream and push it into your muscles and cells, and most of us just aren't getting enough vanadium from our diets.

• Diabetes. There is some evidence that high doses of vanadyl sulfate (100 mg daily, providing 31 mg elemental vanadium) might improve the way people with type 2 diabetes use insulin, the hormone that processes sugar. The study suggested that high-dose vanadium might lower blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. But there are two big concerns about this study. First, it only involved 40 people, so the conclusions need to be confirmed using a bigger study group. Secondly, even if high-dose vanadium works for diabetes, these high doses, used long-term, might not be safe. It's not known if lower doses work as well. For now, don’t use vanadium to treat type 2 diabetes. Wait to see if additional larger studies show benefit and safety.
• Heart disease.
• High cholesterol.
• Water retention (edema).
• Preventing cancer.

Food Sources

• Black pepper
• Mushrooms
• Olives
• Shellfish
• Vegetable oils