Vitamins & iron

ahlxm9 wrote: »

if i have consumed more vitamin A or C than my daily goal isn't that a good thing ? am i supposed to not exceed the daily goal ?

Unfortunately, some numbers are goals, some are limits, and some are just the US RDA. None of it is really "good" or "bad", just general suggestions based on national guidelines.

I believe (and I'm just random MFP user #729) that vitamins and minerals are the US RDA (so minimums), saturated fat and sodium are suggested limits, and fiber and the macros are suggested goals. I think.

It's time for science! Yay!

When you take in vitamins, some of the vitamins dissolve in water ("water soluble"), and others dissolve in fat ("fat soluble"). The fat soluble vitamins get stored in your body until they are needed. The water soluble vitamins are not stored, and excess amounts of these vitamins get excreted with the liquid waste.

Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat soluble. The B vitamins and vitamin C are water soluble.

This is why you need to get enough B vitamins and vitamin C each day: the body does not store these vitamins. It's difficult to overdose on these vitamins for the same reason: the body just flushes out the excess. And this is why it's not helpful to take big supplements of vitamin C...you're just going to pee it out. It is neither a good thing nor a bad thing that you're going over your daily vitamin C goal.

Vitamin A works differently because your body stores it, but it's also hard to overdose on it unless you fit a very specific set of conditions.

If you're getting your vitamin A from your diet rather than a supplement, you're unlikely to be eating enough of it to cause problems, unless you are eating something like really large amounts of liver. (Liver, specifically, because vitamin A is stored in the liver, making it a very concentrated source of the vitamin.)

As Jane mentioned, if you get vitamin A from plant sources, then what you are actually getting are substances called carotenoids that your body then converts into vitamin A. Beta carotene is the carotenoid that people are most often familiar with. There's no toxic effect from eating too many carotenoids, although at Esther noted, they might turn your skin a yellowish color if you really eat a massive amount of them. (This is called "carotenemia" and if it happens, just eat fewer plants with beta-carotene.)

If you're going over your vitamin A goal, then you are most likely fine, but it's not going to give you any extra benefit.

HOWEVER, if you're taking a vitamin A supplement, then you definitely can overdose on it. Doses found in a standard multivitamin are fine, but don't take high doses of vitamin A (or anything else, really) unless a doctor tells you to.

tl;dr, don't eat too much liver.

ahlxm9 wrote: »

Thank you everyone you were really helpful..
Apullum thank you i was clueless about all of this information im not even using any supplements and i only went over my daily goal for vitamin C but i thought they were the same so i included A in my question 😂🤦‍♀️

You're welcome! I gotta use my biology degree somehow

Vitamins A and C are pretty different things, but either way you are most likely fine. Honestly, it's hard to overdose on vitamins unless you're taking supplements.

kpsyche wrote: »

@apullum Great post. Just one thing, though. Even though Vitamin B12 is water soluble doesn't mean it's not stored in the body; the liver stores quite a lot of it actually (enough for many years).

https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/disorders-of-nutrition/vitamins/vitamin-b-12

Nice addition! B12 is a big one for vegans and vegetarians, like me, since there are very few sources of it other than animal products. Vegans typically supplement it, and vegetarians might need a supplement if they're not getting it from sources like dairy. Even though the body can store it, if we're not replenishing it in our diets, then we still need to make sure we're taking in enough.

Of course, for people who eat meat, this is probably not something you need to worry about

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