Too Much Vitamin A Leads to Toxicity

Consuming too much vitamin A, which is a fat-soluble vitamin, can lead to vitamin A toxicity. With fat-soluble vitamins, excess is stored in the body, often to the point of harm. Vitamin A toxicity symptoms rarely appear as a result of eating too many vitamin-rich foods. Rather, most people who experience toxicity symptoms do so because they loaded up on vitamin A supplements.

The medical term for vitamin A toxicity is hypervitaminosis A. It means your body is storing way too much vitamin A and your body is not responding well to this high level. This condition can happen because of consistent overdosing of vitamin A over a long period of time, or it can happen if you consume a huge amount of vitamin A all at once.

If you consume too much vitamin A for a long time, you may carry a child with serious birth defects. This means it is very important for pregnant women to consult their obstetrician before taking large amounts of vitamin A supplements. There are three other common symptoms of long-term vitamin A overdosing:

• Liver function complications
• Bone density problems, which can result in osteoporosis
• Central nervous system malfunctioning

This condition is most likely to occur when someone deliberately eats a vitamin-a rich diet every day or takes supplements daily.

Short-term, intensive vitamin A overdosing-most likely resulting from taking too many vitamin A supplements all at once-will cause nausea, vomiting, headaches, impaired vision, fainting, feeling dizzy and difficulty with coordination.

How much vitamin A is too much? Try to follow these guidelines:

• Men should not consume more than 10,000 IU of vitamin A each day.
• Women should not consume more than 10,000 IU of vitamin A each day.
• Children should not consume more than 3,000 IU of vitamin A each day.
• Infants and toddlers should not consume more than 2,000 IU of vitamin A each day.