Yael: What are all those pills you're taking, Don?

Don，你在吃的都是什么藥？

Don: Vitamins, Yael. I'm really into my health these days. I take a pill for nearly every vitamin my body needs. I'm insuring myself against vitamin deficiency.

Yael, 是維他命。這些天我很關(guān)注自己的身體健康，所以我每種維他命都吃一片來補(bǔ)充各種身體所需的，確保不會(huì)出現(xiàn)維他命缺乏的情況。

Y: I hope you know what you're doing. Just as vitamin deficiency can make you sick so can vitamin toxicity. Vitamins can be very dangerous if you take them in high quantities.

我希望你知道你現(xiàn)在在做什么。維他命是有毒性的，就像維他命缺乏一樣會(huì)致你生病。如果你攝入過多維他命也是很危險(xiǎn)的。

D: Oh, you mean vitamins A and D. I've heard about that. I don't understand, though, why it's okay to take lots of one vitamin, but not another.

哦，你說的是維生素A和維生素D。我聽說過。但是我仍然不明白為什么能大量吃一種維生素，但卻不能吃另一種。

Y: First off, vitamins A and D are the most likely to make you sick if you take too much of them, but they aren't the only vitamins that can be dangerous. All vitamins have the potential to be toxic if you ingest too much of them.

首先，如果一次攝入過量的話，維生素A和D是最有可能威脅你的健康的，但并不是只有他們才是危險(xiǎn)物質(zhì)。如果你攝入量過多的話，任何維他命都是有毒性的。

Part of the reason why A and D put you at higher risk than Vitamin C and others has to do with the way vitamins are dissolved.

維生素A和D比維生素C和其他的維生素具有更高毒性的部分原因是維生素有不同的溶解方式。

Vitamin C dissolves in water. Thus, if you take in excess Vitamin C, your body flushes it out through urine. Vitamins A and D dissolve in oils and melted fat.

維生素C是水溶性的。因此，如果你服用過多的維他命C的話，你的身體可以通過尿液將其排出。而維他命A和D是油溶性和脂溶性的。

When you take too much of one of these vitamins, rather than flushing the excess out, the body stores the surplus in fat or in fatty tissues such as the liver and the brain.

當(dāng)你服用了過多的這種維他命的話，身體不能通過尿液將其排出，剩余部分只能儲(chǔ)存至脂肪或者脂肪組織，例如肝和大腦。

Accumulation of water in the brain, severe headaches, and birth defects are just three of the problems toxic levels of Vitamin A can cause.

腦積水，劇烈頭痛，先天缺失正是維他命A的毒副作用能導(dǎo)致的三種疾病。

If you keep a relatively well-balanced diet, you'll most likely get the vitamins your body needs without the use of supplements.

如果你能保持一個(gè)相對(duì)均衡的飲食，你就能夠保證身體所需的維生素，而不需要額外的補(bǔ)充了。