"A" for Effort. Or Irreversable Liver Damage.

March 11, 2009 2:19 PM

Do these vitamins contain toxic levels of vitamin A?

I've been taking Solaray Once Daily High-Energy vitamins. The label (reproduced on the linked site) states that the capsules contain 25,000 IU "Vitamin A (from Retinyl Palmitate and 60% as Natural Beta Carotene)" and that this is 500% of the recommended daily value.

As I understand it (and my understanding, despite Googling the hell out of vitamin A, is limited), preformed vitamin A can cause irreversable liver damage when taken in large quantities.

I suppose what I'm asking is, "should I eat this, or will it nuke my liver from orbit?"

posted by Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger to health & fitness (6 comments total)

Vitamin A toxicity.

Looks like you're right on the border for chronic toxicity, which begins at approximately 25,000IU/day for prolonged periods. Acute toxicity occurs at 25,000IU/kilo of body weight, so you're nowhere near dangerous levels as far as that's concerned. You'd have to down a bottle all at once.

But yeah, that's a lot of vitamin A. As in this almost certainly isn't doing you any good and very well might pose some long-term health risks if you keep it up.

I'd either switch to one every other day or drop it entirely. Actually, I'd do the latter, but the former would probably significantly reduce your risk.
posted by valkyryn at 2:36 PM on March 11, 2009

It's less serious than liver damage but you could also turn orange. Bummer about the fat soluble vitamins. They hang out in your body for a while, unlike mega-doses of vitamin C which makes fancy pee.
posted by abirae at 2:47 PM on March 11, 2009

I'm not sure if you know this, from your question, but Beta Carotene isn't preformed Vitamin A. The body converts it into Vitamin A. It's not toxic in the same way that Vitamin A is.

(That said, 10,000 IU of preformed Vitamin A might still be a lot. I think there's some connection between large doses of Vitamin A and osteoporosis.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 3:07 PM on March 11, 2009

This press release about the settlement of one of the high-profile lawuits against Airbone (curse its name) mentions that they got banned from making supplements with 15,000 IU or more as part of the settlement. It mentions 100k as a point of possible toxicity, but also says some studies have indicated "much lower," and I've heard similarly.

I'd skip it. Plus, I'd skip it even if I knew they were safe. There's an emerging consensus in science that vitamins have pretty much no effect on health in healthy adults who eat a normal western diet. Except the placebo effect, of course, which can be plenty powerful. But if you're buying them for that, I'd encourage you to get the cheapest one that you can still convince yourself does something ;)
posted by abcde at 7:18 AM on March 12, 2009

Hope I didn't just worsen anyone's colds by ruining their placebo effect...
posted by abcde at 7:23 AM on March 12, 2009

Thanks for your answers, everybody. I've chucked the vitamins. Better safe than sorry (or orange).
posted by Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger at 11:33 AM on March 14, 2009