Medical Questions » Pregnancy Questions » Question No. 1485
| Question: | Is it dangerous to supplement vitamin A in pregnancy? |
| Answer: | Only in very large amounts in the animal form, known as retinol. Beta-carotene, which is the vegetable form of vitamin A, is not toxic because the more you take in, the less the body converts into retinol. Retinol is risky because it can store in the liver, and excessive amounts of it may increase risk of birth defects, although this has never been proven in humans, only animals. The concern was originally raised because there have been cases of birth defects reported in women taking a synthetic relative of vitamin A, sold as the drug Roaccutane. In any case, it is probably wise not to supplement more than 3,000mcg (10,000ius) of vitamin A during pregnancy. Neither should you eat liver frequently, as it' s a very concentrated source of retinol. However, it is a good idea to supplement a multivitamin containing vitamin A below this level, as well as folic acid, as multivitamin supplementation during pregnancy has been shown to reduce the risk of birth defects by 75 per cent, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. |
|
|
