Vitamin D and Vitamin A

[swmom]

Does anyone know how much is too much of vitamin A & D?

With the supplements we're giving, and the multivitamin, I'm worried we're getting too much of both.

Our multivitamin contains 5000IU of vitamin A, which they list as 100% of the daily value. Also, with the multivitamin, we're getting 400IU of vitamin D, which they say is 100% of what's needed, too. On top of this, we're getting an additional amount of vitamin D in our calcium/magnesium supplement.

On top of the vitamin A and D she gets in her diet, I'm worried. Are there signs of too much vitamin A and or D in the system?

Any help would be appreciated.

[DenverSarah]

Vitamin A as vitamin a actetate can be toxic at 15,000 per day. If it is as beta carotene, it cannot become toxic because this version is water soluble. However more than 15,000 as beta carotene can cause your skin to turn orange!

Vitamin D should be kept to about 600 IU per day.

Here is a link to where I got the info:
www.anyvitamins.com/fat-soluble-vitamins-info.htm

[swmom]

Incidentally, what is an IU? Is there a mg equivalent?

[DenverSarah]

IU stands for International Units and is used for the measurement of drugs and vitamins.

Webster's defines IU as: a quantity of a biologic (such as a vitamin) that produces a particular biological effect agreed upon as an international standard

What this means is that IU is dependent on the potency of the substance, and each substance would have a different IU to milligram conversion. For example, 1000 IU of Vitamin C would have a different weight than 1000 IU of Vitamin A

Since each substance would have a different conversion ratio, we cannot put up a conversion for IU to milligrams that covers everything, or even most things. Just too many different substances.

So what can you do?

Your best bet would be to contact your pharmacist. They have all the information anyone could ever want about drugs and vitamins.

You could also contact the manufacturer of the vitamin. Most manufactures will have a web site with contact information so you can email them. Try searching the web using the manufactures name or the name of the vitamin.

[catatonic]

To convert Vitamin D from IU to mg, divide the IU number by 40. Your 400IU of Vitamin D is 10mg.

Vitamin D can cause toxicity at levels of about 3,000IU daily, if it is given in such a large amount over a period of time. Symptoms of toxicity (according to the Merck Manual) include excessive thirst, excessive urination, nausea, anorexia, itchy anus, and eventually kidney damage.

For Vitamin A (beta-carotene), multiply the IU by 0.3. Your 5,000IU of Vitamin A would be 1,500mg.

For Vitamin A (acetate), multiply the IU by 0.344 to get mg.

If your Vitamin A is synthetic, 5,000IU is on the high side (about twice the recommended daily level for an adult). If it's from beta-carotene, or at least half from beta-carotene, you're well within recommended limits. As DenverSarah says, you can't harm yourself with beta-carotene, you'll just become orange.

Generally, though, Vitamin A is pretty safe. In order to develop Vitamin A toxicity, you need to be consuming 100,000IU daily...which sounds pretty unlikely to me (unless you're taking massive doses as an acne treatment, which is effective but risky). If you get dry skin, cracked lips, and your hair and eyebrows start falling out, then you've got the signs of Vitamin A overdose.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about your vitamins. If your girl is a good milk drinker, you may want to select a different vitamin next time that doesn't contain the A and D, since those are both normally added to commercial milk. Otherwise, unless she's going bald and scratching her b*tt, you're probably safe.