is 922% Vitamin "A" to much?

joelo436
joelo436 Posts: 1 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
My fitness pal app set my goal for Vitamin A to be 100 and I usually go WAY over that. for lunch I had a glass of carrot juice which really shot it up! I thought it was ok to go over with vitamins at first because vitamins are good for you. But due to experiencing medical problems ever since I started my diet I'm starting to doubt going over in Vitamin A is a good thing. Thank You :)

P.S. I have only recorded up to lunch time. I include snacks in lunchtime and I record dessert I might have later before hand as well.

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    The Vitamin A from vegetables is actually a substance that is converted to Vitamin A in our bodies. Once we have what we need, we eliminate the excess so we can't overdose on Vitamin A from vegetables.

    I wouldn't worry about carrot juice at all.
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
    edited June 2017
    You can overdose on Vitamin A...

    http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/vitamin-a/safety/hrb-20060201

    Edited to add: Sorry for the duplicate link--I didn't realize that was what @pookiefatcat linked to as well...

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    edited June 2017
    This content has been removed.
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    Like someone else mentioned it is fat soluble and you can have too much. Vitamin C is maybe what the first poster meant; worst case scenario is you are running to the washroom with that one lol
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    pookiefatcat wrote: »

    The water soluble vitamins like B and C are peed out if you have too much.
    Source

    Oh not just your pee lol
  • nikolausi88
    nikolausi88 Posts: 22 Member
    This is only one anecdotal case and it happened to a child, so YMMV.

    When my brother was 5 or 6, he was obsessed with a juice that also had a lot of beta carotene. After drinking it every day he truly turned orange and developed a nasty skin condition.
    Considering his smaller size compared to an adult, it's probably easier to get way too much Vitamin A, but it doesn't mean prolonged excessive consumption of a vitamin will never have any consequences.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    The Vitamin A from vegetables is actually a substance that is converted to Vitamin A in our bodies. Once we have what we need, we eliminate the excess so we can't overdose on Vitamin A from vegetables.

    I wouldn't worry about carrot juice at all.

    Yes, this.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    pookiefatcat wrote: »
    Not true. Vitamin A is one of the fat soluble vitamins, along with D, E and K. It will build up in your fatty tissue if you have too much. As an occasional thing it's not an issue but maybe dial it back a little?

    If you got it directly (like from polar bear liver) that's true, but like janejellyroll said, that's not the case with vegetable sources because they have to be converted to Vit A anyway (they contain carotenoids).
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    pookiefatcat wrote: »
    Not true. Vitamin A is one of the fat soluble vitamins, along with D, E and K. It will build up in your fatty tissue if you have too much. As an occasional thing it's not an issue but maybe dial it back a little?

    The water soluble vitamins like B and C are peed out if you have too much.
    Source

    Retinol, yes. The Vitamin A from vegetables is actually things like alpha- and beta-carotene. Our bodies *convert* it to Vitamin A (because we're omnivores). Toxicity from Vitamin A is only a concern with retinol. OP went over because of carrot juice. Not a concern.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    mrsnattybulking wrote: »
    Like someone else mentioned it is fat soluble and you can have too much. Vitamin C is maybe what the first poster meant; worst case scenario is you are running to the washroom with that one lol

    It's not what I meant. My post is based on an understanding between retinol (the Vitamin A in animal products) and alpha- or beta-carotene (the Vitamin A precursor in vegetables).
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Yeah, not a concern with vegetable sources. Vitamin A toxicity is usually a result of supplements and/or someone eating a ton of liver...
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    Are there other vitamins that work like vitamin "A" in that your body converts it from something else in food? This is cool to know.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    Are there other vitamins that work like vitamin "A" in that your body converts it from something else in food? This is cool to know.

    Vitamin D is sort of similar, in that your body makes it if you get sunshine on your skin, although I don't think the material the body uses (a component of cholesterol) is dependent on any particular food source. (You can also take vitamin D in supplements, or in foods that have been supplemented with vitamin D.) And like vitamin A toxicity, vitamin D toxicity is generally from over-supplementing, not because you're getting too much sunlight and your body is making too much.
  • kavahni
    kavahni Posts: 313 Member
    From the National Institutes of Health:
    "the body stores excess amounts, primarily in the liver, and these levels can accumulate. ... Although hypervitaminosis A can be due to excessive dietary intakes, the condition is usually a result of consuming too much preformed vitamin A from supplements or therapeutic retinoids"
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    kavahni wrote: »
    From the National Institutes of Health:
    "the body stores excess amounts, primarily in the liver, and these levels can accumulate. ... Although hypervitaminosis A can be due to excessive dietary intakes, the condition is usually a result of consuming too much preformed vitamin A from supplements or therapeutic retinoids"

    Also from the NIH: " Although excess preformed vitamin A can have significant toxicity (known as hypervitaminosis A), large amounts of beta-carotene and other provitamin A carotenoids are not associated with major adverse effects."

    OP isn't asking about preformed vitamin A, the question is about going over MFP goals due to consumption of large amounts of beta-carotene and other provitamin A carotenoids.

    https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/
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