Vitamins that Can Cause Swelling or Water Retention

Tip

Before taking any supplements, consult with your doctor to make sure they're right for you.

Too Much Vitamin A

Vitamin A, along with vitamins D, E and K, is one of the fat-soluble vitamins. You store the vitamin in fatty tissue, so it's easy to get an overload — unlike water-soluble vitamins that are excreted every day.

This vitamin, prevalent in orange vegetables, liver and spinach, is essential to bolstering immunity, keeping your vision healthy, supporting reproductive systems and getting cells to communicate.

It's almost impossible to overload on vitamin A from food, but supplements can cause a toxicity if consumed above 2,800 to 3,000 micrograms per day.

Read more: Can You Get Vitamin A Poisoning From Eating Too Many Vegetables?

Too Little B1

A deficiency in vitamin B1, or thiamine, can lead to tissue swelling. Other symptoms of thiamine deficiency include weakness, rapid heart rate, lack of appetite, fatigue and burning feet.

Deficiency of Vitamin C

Too little vitamin C can also cause tissue swelling, along with gum and tooth degradation, dry hair and eyes, anemia and poor wound healing. The fatal condition known as scurvy can develop in extreme cases of deficiency.

Vitamin C, found in citrus fruits, strawberries and cantaloupe, is critical in the development of collagen — a building block of most tissue. It also serves as an antioxidant, protecting you from free radicals present in pollution and chemicals that can harm your cells; free radicals also naturally form as you age.

Consuming less than 10 milligrams per day for many weeks can lead to severe deficiency and scurvy, but this is extremely rare in modern times. Swelling as a result of vitamin C deficiency is often most apparent in the gums.

Read more: The Best Vitamin C Dosage for Adults

Alternate Causes of Swelling

Puffiness, swelling and edema are more likely to be caused by something other than vitamin intake. Sitting or standing for extended periods of time, some medications, menstruation and pregnancy, varicose veins, allergies, disease of the liver or kidneys, blood pressure extremes and exposure to extreme environmental situations — such as heat or high altitude — are possible causes.

Read more: What Are the Symptoms of Water Retention?

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