Vitamin D is defined as a nutrient despite its rare occurrence in food. Vitamin D status is determined mainly by solar UV light action in skin. However, the strategy to combat vitamin D deficiency has been to increase oral intake of vitamin D in greater amounts than could be obtained from food. Persistent large intakes of vitamin D can cause hypercalcaemic toxicity. Although the amounts recommended to prevent deficiency are far less than those causing such toxicity, the possibility of other toxic actions from increased intake of vitamin D has been ignored. Animal experiments have demonstrated that moderate amounts of oral vitamin D over time result in atherosclerosis. Differences in the fate of vitamin D could explain this angiotoxicity.

维生素 D 被定义为一种营养素，尽管它在食物中很少出现。维生素 D 状态主要由皮肤中的太阳紫外线作用决定。然而，对抗维生素 D 缺乏症的策略一直是增加维生素 D 的口服摄入量，而不是从食物中获得的量。持续大量摄入维生素 D 可导致高钙血症毒性。尽管建议预防缺乏的量远低于引起此类毒性的量，但人们忽略了增加维生素 D 摄入量引起的其他毒性作用的可能性。动物实验表明，随着时间的推移，适量口服维生素 D 会导致动脉粥样硬化。维生素 D 命运的差异可以解释这种血管毒性。