How To Tell How Much Vitamin A I Need?

I've heard of Ray taking up to 100,000 IU when in a lot of sun (I think).

How can I tell how much A I should take? Standard recommendation is that it is dangerous to take more than 10,000 IU per day.

Wondering what symptoms I should look for, whether I should take A until certain symptoms are gone maybe.

At the moment I'm not on liver (I have too much copper), so I'm taking a vitamin A supplement.

its hard to say, a good amount though...more than people probably usually consume. Not to be way overdone though. It takes a lot of sensitivity and I don't know if other people could sense it, but if your eyes take more than about 20-30 seconds to adjust to the dark, you could probably use a boost of vit A. Ive noticed by using mostly palm oil, main vit A source for me (carotene in this case), is alright on a consistent basis in little amounts, but it becomes way more noticably beneficial if I don't consume any for a few days. Its noticeably more head/forebrain refreshing. So yea...its hard to sense, takes a bit of sensitivity to notice, but id say the eyes taking more than 20-30 seconds to adjust do dark is a huge indicator.

The daily recommendation at 100% is probably a bit low, better would be about 120-150% based on optimal requirements. If its in a preformed animal or supplement form, you pretty much get 100% of what you eat. If its in a carotenoid form like beta carotene, its efficiency of conversion to vitamin A is less, so you have to overcompensate...nutrition labels don't account for this. A general range that seems pretty well accepted is that preformed vitamin A are 100% vitamin A, carotenoid (such as beta carotene) are about 50% of whats listed post effect if in a fat form (like red palm oil) and about 1/6 (17% or so) of what is listed in real post effect from water based forms like carrot or leafy veg, in terms of supplying vitamin A

thanks, I'll be aware of the eyes getting used to the dark (have not paid attention to this before).

I'm taking the animal form of A (tiny caps made from fish oil). Currently on 20,000 IU per day.

im not sure what that translates to with the RDA, in terms of IU, but if you are not eating anything else high in vitamin A, a good safe amount would be about 100% a day, that way even if you did get a little more in the diet it would be good, and youd definitely be able to recover eventually if you were in fact deficient. That should be safe to prevent every getting too much also...maybe go about 80-100% RDA. If you start eating large amounts of other vit A, then you could tailor it down or skip a day. Another approach could be to use something like carrots/juice or palm oil, because you can almost never overdose...no toxicity worry with beta carotene as to preformed vitamin A, but according to Peat this method can be a burden I dont think he recommends it. I sometimes use palm oil and its fine

RP has mentioned that for someone healthy with good thyroid function 10,000 IU
is fine and for average hypothyroid people it is 5,000 IU. Excess vitamin A inhibit
thyroid function mainly through restricting transportation of thyroid hormone
as both thyroid hormone and vitamin A is carried by same protein.
He also mentioned that beta carotene can be more inhibiting than vitamin A
if it is not converted to active vitamin A. B12 is required for this conversion
and excess beta carotene is displacing active vitamin A. Vitamin A and carotene
both are unsaturated like PUFA.

ah ok. I'm having quite a bit of whole milk (pasteurized), and butter, and 1 egg a day.

20k vitamin A is 400% RDA.

One reason I took more vitamin A is that I'm starting to supplement vitamin K and wanted to be sure there's enough A in my body to balance it.

I don't get much beta carotene, just a little in some grated carrot.

So, then it sounds like 10,000 IU should be the limit for me?

I was kind of thinking if I sunbathed a lot, or if I felt I needed it, then more vitamin A would be OK. Think I got that idea from Ray taking more vitamin A in summer.

Light therapy increases use of vitamin A to make protective hormones.
Skin is a major endocrine organ. I had to increase vitamin A intake
through beef liver when i started light therapy, 4-5 oz of liver to 8-10 oz weekly.
I go by the way i feel. I feel down when i do not get enough liver.
I also lose appetite for liver when i have enough. I think body gives
better signal when we get nutrients through foods.
Your need for vitamin A will depend on how much
light therapy you are getting and how good your thyroid function is.

thanks Mittir. So your range of vitamin A intake is around 5,000 - 12,700 IU per day on average.

You are right the signals are much better when we take the nutrient through food. Maybe I'll think about liver and see what my body says.

I'm aiming to up my light, and also boost up thyroid. Right now I'll stick at 20k but I will watch it.

Mittir said:

Light therapy increases use of vitamin A to make protective hormones.
Skin is a major endocrine organ. I had to increase vitamin A intake
through beef liver when i started light therapy, 4-5 oz of liver to 8-10 oz weekly.
I go by the way i feel. I feel down when i do not get enough liver.
I also lose appetite for liver when i have enough. I think body gives
better signal when we get nutrients through foods.
Your need for vitamin A will depend on how much
light therapy you are getting and how good your thyroid function is.

Click to expand...

So I usually use 500 watts in my room, although they aren't pointing directly at me. And am pretty sure I'm hypo...would those 2 lights increase my need for A above 5,000iu?

Does anyone know if consuming carotenoids from food count ? Assuming one can convert them to A. I smoke, so I don't supplement either one, just half pound of calves liver every 10 days or so.