Consensus Vitamin A Recommendations

Article Highlights

Vitamin A requirements are best satisfied by eating a well balanced diet.
Aim for a total vitamin A intake (from food and supplements, if needed) based on your recommended daily allowance.
Smokers, asbestos workers, and individuals at risk for osteoporosis should pay special attention to avoid excessive intake of vitamin A in foods and excessive vitamin A and synthetic beta-carotene in dietary supplements.
If you are pregnant or nursing, you have special nutritional requirements and need to work closely with your health care provider to meet your dietary requirements.
If you are taking Accutane or Soriatane, the FDA recommends you avoid taking any supplemental vitamin A to avoid additive side effects.

Aim for a total vitamin A intake as outlined in vitamin A Requirements. Nutrient needs are best satisfied by eating a well balanced diet, which should include five or more servings of deep yellow or orange fruits and vegetables and deep green, leafy vegetables a day. Vitamin A dietary supplements individually or as part of a multivitamin may be useful when dietary food sources do not fulfill the recommended daily allowance. When taking supplements, at least 50% of vitamin A should be in the form of beta-carotene. The label will say, for example, under the vitamin A listing, “50% as beta-carotene.” It is very easy to overshoot safe vitamin A intake levels if taking a supplement containing more than 1000 IU pre-formed vitamin A. Due to concerns regarding cancer and heart disease raised in several studies highlighted on the Other Potential Harmful Longterm Side Effects of Supplemental Beta-Carotene and Vitamin A page, some authorities advise against beta-carotene supplementation in the general population.¹²

Special Circumstance Recommendations

Avoid high dose synthetic beta-carotene supplementation if you are a smoker or asbestos worker. Fulfill your vitamin A requirements with a diet rich in deep yellow and orange fruits and vegetables and green, leafy vegetables or, if your diet is inadequate, with modest supplementation with beta-carotene and other antioxidants. Consult your physician.
Individuals with high alcohol intake, pre-existing liver disease, hyperlipidemia or severe protein malnutrition may be more susceptible to adverse effects from excess pre-formed vitamin A. Consult your physician.
If pregnant or taking an oral contraceptive, be sure not to consume greater than a total of 6,000 IU vitamin A from dietary sources and supplemental sources of pre-formed vitamin A combined. Consult your physician.
For individuals at risk for osteoporosis, the ideal pre-formed vitamin A intake, including the combination of diet and supplemental vitamin A, is 2000 IU to prevent bone fragility. Too little vitamin A also increases bone fragility. Beta-carotene intake has not been implicated in osteoporosis. Consult your physician.
If you are pregnant or attempting to conceive, consider a prenatal vitamin as recommended by your doctor. If you find yourself in any of the other categories lsited here, consider getting all your vitamin A requirements from pre-formed vitamin A and beta-carotene in your diet. If you take a multivitamin, consider one that is free of vitamin A to avoid exceeding your vitamin A requirements. If you are pregnant, you should follow the recommendations of your doctor regarding prenatal vitamin supplementation.

¹²Institute of Medicine. Food and Nutrition Board. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Zinc. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 2001.