Question on daily vitamin values (Attn Mike or mods)

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Aeriel
Aeriel Posts: 864 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I see that we are able to track a series of vitamins, but some of them are only available as a % of daily value and do not give us an actual value for your intake.

Do you have a listing of what the 100% of Vitamin A corresponds to in measurable units? Or any of the other vitamins? I am just wondering because I have been informed that some vitamins, such as Vitamin A, should not be taken in excess, but there is a huge range of units a person is allowed.

Just wondering if your 100% value corresponds to the upper, lower or somewhere in the middle of that range.

Thanks.

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  • atomdraco
    atomdraco Posts: 1,083 Member
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    bump
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
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    I'm not 100% sure, but I'm relatively certain it's based on the same values that are used for US food labeling, which is based on the 2000 calorie diet. See this website - it gives values in measureable units:

    http://www.netrition.com/rdi_page.html

    That is likely what MFP 100% values are based off of.

    If you want a more personalized recommendation, check this PDF out - it's broken out by age and gender: http://iom.edu/Activities/Nutrition/SummaryDRIs/~/media/Files/Activity Files/Nutrition/DRIs/RDA and AIs_Vitamin and Elements.pdf
  • Aeriel
    Aeriel Posts: 864 Member
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    Okay, if the 100% is based on the recommended daily guide as suggested above, then it is 5000 IU per day, based on a 2000 calorie diet. http://www.netrition.com/rdi_page.html

    According to Wiki page (link below), the numbers are for 700-3000 but the units are different (ug, micrograms). So I went and found a page that could tell me roughly what the equivalent conversion between those two units is.
    http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamina

    According to that site 700ug is equivalent to 2310 IU, so the max recommended of 3000ug is equal to 9900 IU. So if my math is right, you would want to keep the Vitamin A average to 200% or less.

    This is a quote from the Wiki article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_A) : "In general, acute toxicity occurs at doses of 25,000 IU/kg of body weight, with chronic toxicity occurring at 4,000 IU/kg of body weight daily for 6–15 months.[33] However, liver toxicities can occur at levels as low as 15,000 IU per day to 1.4 million IU per day, with an average daily toxic dose of 120,000 IU per day, particularly with excessive consumption of alcohol. In people with renal failure, 4000 IU can cause substantial damage. In addition, excessive alcohol intake can increase toxicity. Children can reach toxic levels at 1,500 IU/kg of body weight" "An estimated 75% of people in developed nations may be ingesting more than the RDA for vitamin A on a regular basis[citation needed]. Chronic intake of 1500 RAE of preformed vitamin A may be associated with osteoporosis and hip fractures."

    So after all that, I am going to try to keep my Vitamin A levels under 200%, but if they are occasionally over, I will not worry. I don't take vitamin supplements for them, so all of mine is coming from natural food sources.

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