Am I getting too much Vitamin A?

Options
Full4Life
Full4Life Posts: 172 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am a clean eater. I eat a ton of fruits and vegetables, fish, lean protein and no dietary supplements as I prefer to get my nutrition only from natural food.

Anyway, I have discovered all my well-intentioned eating is putting my Vitamin A levels WAY over. Since I am barely eating sugar now, one favorite treat are sweet potatoes - on those days, I have easily consumed more than 500% RDA for vitamin A.

Anybody else have this issue? Should I cut down on leafy greens, fish and sweet potatoes? Is there any risk? Diary is open.

Replies

  • emmalene1984
    emmalene1984 Posts: 137 Member
    Options
    i THINK when it comes to vitamins, RDA is more like a minimum than a maximum, maybe ask your gp or do a google search on vit a levels, but otherwise I would have thought the more the better, if i uderstand human biology correctly we can only absorb so much at a time anyway so many of what we consume, if it's in one go or too close to the last dose,just passes through us as we can't absorb it. anyway, if you are really concerned, ask your gp. :-)
  • pdworkman
    pdworkman Posts: 1,342 Member
    Options
    You can overdose on vitamin A if you are taking supplements or fortified foods. If you are eating lots of fruits and veggies, the vitamin A is in the form of beta carotene, which you cannot overdose on. Though it can make your skin a bit more yellow.
  • GCLyds
    GCLyds Posts: 206 Member
    Options
    You can not OD on vit A from vegetables. Your body converts the beta carotene to vit A, and once it has enough it just stops converting it.

Categories