Insane vitamin A intake

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Noreenmarie1234
Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,493 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I started tracking my vitamin A including all vitamins and food I eat and found out I intake about 70000IU a day and the max daily is rec to be 10000IU as MAX...so kinda afraid I have vitamin A toxicity as ive been eating this much for over 7 years. Just food alone I have about 60k IUs

I am wondering if any of you guys eat as much vitamin A and if you've had symptoms? I am hoping I will be okay even though I am clearly eating way too much.

Replies

  • fuzzylop72
    fuzzylop72 Posts: 651 Member
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    Usually people with high levels of 'Vitamin A' are fine, since it's in the form of beta-carotene which your body can convert to retinol. Your body just won't convert excess beta-carotene into retinol. Most trackers treat beta carotene as the same as vitamin a (after adjusting for the average conversion rate), so it can be a bit misleading.

    This is working under the assumption, of course, that your high levels of vitamin a is from beta-carotene, and not retinol.
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,493 Member
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    bmitchelmfp wrote: »
    Usually people with high levels of 'Vitamin A' are fine, since it's in the form of beta-carotene which your body can convert to retinol. Your body just won't convert excess beta-carotene into retinol. Most trackers treat beta carotene as the same as vitamin a (after adjusting for the average conversion rate), so it can be a bit misleading.

    This is working under the assumption, of course, that your high levels of vitamin a is from beta-carotene, and not retinol.

    Thank you for the insight. Yes my high levels are mostly from pumpkin, squash, sweet potato, and carrots.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    What's your skin like? Skin issues are one of the more obvious signs of long term vitamin A toxicity.

    If you're supplementing, you should probably stop. Getting too much from food shouldn't be a problem.
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,493 Member
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    rheddmobile wrote: »
    What's your skin like? Skin issues are one of the more obvious signs of long term vitamin A toxicity.

    If you're supplementing, you should probably stop. Getting too much from food shouldn't be a problem.
    My skin is usually okay but lately I’ve been breaking out. I don’t purposely take vitamin a supplement because I get about 60k just from food but it’s in some of my vitamins I take for other nutrients. But I think I will stop the multivitamin.

  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    What's your skin like? Skin issues are one of the more obvious signs of long term vitamin A toxicity.

    If you're supplementing, you should probably stop. Getting too much from food shouldn't be a problem.
    My skin is usually okay but lately I’ve been breaking out. I don’t purposely take vitamin a supplement because I get about 60k just from food but it’s in some of my vitamins I take for other nutrients. But I think I will stop the multivitamin.

    If you had vitamin A toxicity, typically your skin would be dry and flaky, nails brittle, etc. Some people who get too many carotenoid vitamins turn orange! Sounds like you're fine.
  • impyimpyaj
    impyimpyaj Posts: 1,073 Member
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    If you’re concerned, your doctor can do a blood test to make sure. It’s generally best to get tested for things like that rather than asking people you don’t know. :) We can’t see your skin or test your blood, so we really have no way to definitively say whether you’re in danger or not.
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
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    rheddmobile wrote: »
    Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    What's your skin like? Skin issues are one of the more obvious signs of long term vitamin A toxicity.

    If you're supplementing, you should probably stop. Getting too much from food shouldn't be a problem.
    My skin is usually okay but lately I’ve been breaking out. I don’t purposely take vitamin a supplement because I get about 60k just from food but it’s in some of my vitamins I take for other nutrients. But I think I will stop the multivitamin.

    If you had vitamin A toxicity, typically your skin would be dry and flaky, nails brittle, etc. Some people who get too many carotenoid vitamins turn orange! Sounds like you're fine.

    I turned orange as a result of too many carrots. I was eating a lot though, and I didn't eat anything besides carrots. The coloring went away when I stopped eating them. I didn't have any other health problems at that time. You can email your doctor if you're really concerned to see if they have any potential problems that you should look out for.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    When I was a baby, I went for a stretch where the only baby food I would eat was squash and carrots. I turned a lovely shade of orangey yellow. My mom ran to the pediatrician thinking something was horribly wrong!

    Have you had blood work done during this period? If you aren't experiencing any of the symptoms already mentioned, maybe ease off those foods a bit until your next checkup and mention it then.
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,493 Member
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    Thank you all for the replies. I do have an orange tint but my doctor said it was harmless and just because I eat too much beta carotene (been like this for years). It doesn't bother me too much but I just was getting paranoid I will have long term damage and issues I think I may try to eat less but going to ask my doc if I can get some blood work to make sure everything is okay.

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