Vitamin A

[Ngala]

Hi All,

Just want to get some information on vitamin A.. I know that you shouldnt have too much of vitamin A because it could cause birth defects.

What stuff has vitamin A in it? I keep looking at the labels to see what has vitamin A in it and as it turns out I just drank a multi-v drink with vitamin A in it. LOL

TIA

[Janie]

Hi Veronica, I think there are lots of foods that have naturally occuring Vit A in them, you really want to stay clear of those with high levels.

Livers have huge amounts so stay away from pate :frown: and anything else with liver in it. Can't think of anything else off the top of my head, though that could just be pg brain LOL!

I'm sure someone else will be more helpful.

[Alan]

The vitamin A derived from plants is actually beta-carotene which is converted to vitamin A in the body. It would be difficult to get too much from this source. Studies have shown that a serve of about 28gms of liver will give you enough vitamin A to increase the chance of birth defects by two and a half times so it’s a good idea to giver liver a miss.

[Debbie Lee]

I know I freaked when I discovered I had bought fruit juice with ADDED vitamin A when preggo with Gab!! LOL

Other than that, I dunno what foods I avoided because of vitamin A?? I don't remember much at all! LOL

[Ngala]

eeewwww liver!! OK I got nothing to worry about because liver is the last thing in the world that I would like to eat!! LOL

thanks everyone

[Janie]

I know Veronica, but I'm really missing pate! Isn't it funny how when you can't have something, you really want it LOL!

[Ngala]

sezjm - I dont like pate!! I found adjusting to pgncy real easy because a lot of the stuff you cant eat, I dont eat anyways!

[Janie]

You lucky thing! I love all the stuff you're not supposed to have, goat's cheese is the thing I'm really craving now! And I miss my blue cheese, as well as a million other things LOL! Some prosciutto wrapped figs would go down really well right now!

[jja]

Like Alan was saying, the beta carotene form of vitamin A isn't a problem - if you look at the ingredients on the multi-v drink it will tell you what sort of vitamin A it is. The other form of Vitamin A (retinol) is the one in liver/pate etc. Its more commonly used as the vitamin a in vitamin drinks (like milo) than beta-carotene, but at least in milo, there's not enough of it to be risky for the baby (unless you eat way too much milo...!). Your drink was probably the same, you can check how much was in it against the safe limit, it will probably be lower.

[Evie76]

I lived off milo in the first few weeks - I couldn't stand the thought of tea or anything fatty like chips and burgers and I craved milk something chronic. Yum, yum milo.

All I could eat was veggies.

Ngala, I'm with you - liver................erk!!

[~Debbie~]

my dr told me Vit A is what makes food red..ie, carrots, grapes, tomatoes etc.
Is that right?

[Ngala]

Well how much is too much Milo?? At the mo I am drinking milo nearly everyday. I too have been craving milk!! I dont think I have drunk so much milk in my life. lol

[Evie76]

I didn't think Vitamin A had a colour. I don't really know what makes those veggies that colour.

Ngala, I pass on the coffee and go straight for the cold milk fridges when I go out. I have to have milk and it has been that way from the very beginning. My husband and I are going through about 5 litres of milk at the moment whereas we were hard pressed finishing a 2 litre carton before.

I didn't realise Milo had Vitamin A in it until I got to about week 20 when I read the side. I nearly freaked out but I had had my second scan and everything was normal and the baby looked great. So, thank goodness I didn't give up my milo.

I have two spoons of milo in a glass of cold milk - but that's only really once a day. Sometimes at night I'll have a hot milo. I don't think that's too much Vitamin A.

[Angel]

I take my tablets with a drink of milo every day. It's one of the few things that helps counteract the bad tasting tabs! I asked my doc and he said it was fine, even that milo was pretty good as far as drinks go during PG. Apparently you'd need to regularly eat something like a whole tin of milo for the retinol in it to be of any concern.

[~Debbie~]

and Milo has alot of other goodies in it as well. Also perfect as a quick snack inbetween meals to fill you up. And a little bit of Vitamin A is still essential.

[jja]

my dr told me Vit A is what makes food red..ie, carrots, grapes, tomatoes etc.
Is that right?

Its sort of right. Vegies like carrots contain a lot of beta carotene which isn't actually vitamin A. But your body easily turns it into vitamin A when it needs to so eating lots of veggies like that does give you effectively lots of vitamin A. But you only convert what you need and beta carotene is not the dangerous one so you can't overdo the vitamin a by eating too many veggies.

[jja]

Well how much is too much Milo?? At the mo I am drinking milo nearly everyday. I too have been craving milk!! I dont think I have drunk so much milk in my life. lol

How much is too much?

750ug (2500IU) is the RDI for vitamin a. The maximum safe amount is 3000ug (10,000IU).

One serve of milo (4 teaspoons) has 131ug of vitamin a. So 5 serves of milo is the RDI, but that's well under the safe limit.