Cod liver oil - vitamin A overdose?

[NCMomworld]

My prenatal (Rainbow Light) has 5000 IU of Vitamin A. It is 50% Beta Carotene and 50% Palmitate. Is it safe for me to continue my daily dose of cod liver oil (Nordic Naturals)? That adds between 3000-5000 IU a day. Oh, and I eat a lot of carrots!

I've read that too much Vitamin A can cause birth defects. Does anyone know what is safe?

TIA!

[tuscany123]

Wow - my prenatal says 10,000 IU of Vit A as Beta-Carotene. (Natures Plus Source of Life - a whole food supplement). I also take Garden of Life CODmega which adds about 800 IU of Vit A (I take 2 caps a day, instead of 3) I thought the beta-carotene was the safest form of Vit A to take. My doc is conservative, and told me last PG to take only 4,000 IU of Vit A per day. I hope someone hops on this thread and chimes in with an answer! :

[mags]

I would be very careful about taking too much vit A. Vitamins, A, D, E & K are all vitamins that are stored in your fatty cells. So, if you take in more than your body needs, it will stay in your body. If you take excess vitamins that are water soluable, your body will pee it out, this is what ppl mean when they say not to worry when you take vitamins, you will pee out the extra stuff you don't need, but that's not true in regards to A, D, E & K. So, basically, it is possible to build up toxic levels of vit A, D, E & K. If I were you I would not go overboard with the vit A. Find out what the RDA is for a pg woman, and stick with their recommendation as a guideline. I remember reading something about how retin A is unsafe for pregnant women, and it is a form of vit A... so I would think that any sort of excessive vit A would not be advisable during pregnancy.

[ComaWhite]

This is an older thread on the topic. 6 pages of good info!!!!
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=408632

[Cersha]

Vit A only causes birth defects from animal sources. Beta Carotene is fine...I don't think cod liver is.

[NCMomworld]

Originally Posted by andrea

This is an older thread on the topic. 6 pages of good info!!!!
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=408632

Wonderful, this is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks ladies

[tuscany123]

Originally Posted by tuscany123

Wow - my prenatal says 10,000 IU of Vit A as Beta-Carotene. (Natures Plus Source of Life - a whole food supplement). :

After reading the posts, I have decided my prenatal is fine. It is made from whole foods, and the vit a in it is plant based (beta carotene), and converted in the liver to a usable form of Vit A.

What an interesting subject!