What Is Vanadium, Do We Need a Vanadium Supplement?

What Is Vanadium, Do We Need a Vanadium Supplement?

Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, ductile, malleable transition metal.

Vanadium was named after Vanadis, the goddess of beauty in Scandinavian mythology, because of its beautiful multicoloured compounds.

Vanadium rarely exists as a free element in nature but can be found in about 65 different minerals, including magnetite, vanadinite, carnotite and patronite. It also can be found in phosphate rock and some crude oils.

Vanadium is usually obtained by heating crushed ore in the presence of carbon and chlorine to produce vanadium trichloride, which is then heated with magnesium in an argon atmosphere.

Around 98 per cent of mined vanadium ore comes from South Africa, Russia, and China.

It is quite valuable in the manufacturing industry due to its malleable, ductile and corrosion-resistant qualities. The most important industrial vanadium compound, vanadium pentoxide, is used as a catalyst for the production of sulfuric acid. The vanadium redox battery for energy storage may be an important application in the future.

High doses of vanadium are toxic to humans but may need for the element in very small amounts for normal bone growth.

Vanadium can be found in trace amounts in many types of food, including mushrooms, black pepper, buckwheat, corn, oat, sunflower seeds, parsley, dill weed, beer, wine and grain, Oats, corn, green beans, carrots, cabbage, garlic, tomatoes, radishes and onions. When we eat a balanced diet, we consume just 0.01 milligrams per day, and this is more than enough for our biological needs. Adding herbs and spices to your food is another good way to include vanadium in your daily diet. Incorporate parsley, black pepper and dill weed into your cooking because these herbs are healthy sources of vanadium. Vanadium might be important in secreting hormones, using cholesterol and managing blood sugar levels, but these functions haven't been proven, according to Michael T. Murray and Joseph E. Pizzorno, authors of "The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods."

In animal studies, it has been shown to improve glucose tolerance, inhibits cholesterol synthesis, and improve mineralization of the teeth and bones 

In some studies on mice, for example, vanadium was shown to lower blood sugar and levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglyceride. In a 1994 study on goats, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, goat kids whose mothers consumed a diet deficient in vanadium was born with skeletal deficiencies and died three days later.

Vanadium is sold as a bodybuilding supplement typically in the form of vanadyl sulfate. The supplement is marketed as a way to increase muscle uptake of glucose and amino acids and enhance the synthesis of glycogen and protein. 

Vanadium has been used for diabetics and bodybuilders in the form of vanadyl sulfate in order to improve insulin action. However, clinical studies to support this use are lacking. Some preliminary studies have shown encouraging results

The average diet provides 6 - 18 mcg. The safe upper limit is 1.8 mg. higher doses may be toxic. There is no established RDA for vanadium. 

If you are being treated with any of the following medications, you should not use vanadium without first talking to your health care provider.

Anticoagulant or antiplatelet drugs (blood thinners), Vanadium may increase the risk of bleeding when taken with these drugs:  Clopidogrel (Plavix), Warfarin (Coumadin), Heparin, Aspirin. 

Drugs for diabetes Vanadium may lower blood sugar levels, so people who also take medications to lower blood sugar could be at risk of developing hypoglycemia or low blood sugar.

Vanadium can be found in a healthy balanced diet, no need for any supplemental vanadium usage, there is no RDA for vanadium.