Too Much Vitamin A: When Does It Become Dangerous and What Are the Risks?

You often hear about vitamin and mineral deficiencies. But with vitamin A, the problem often lies elsewhere: an excess. Because it's relatively easy to obtain through food, a deficiency is rare.

Vitamin A is good for your eyes , skin , immune system , and cell division . (1) But in high doses, it can be harmful. Those who often eat liver products or use retinol (vitamin A) supplements are particularly at risk.

In this article, I'll tell you everything you need to know about too much vitamin A: What symptoms come with it, why it's extra risky during pregnancy, and how to keep your intake safe.

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin . This means your body doesn't simply excrete it in your urine, unlike vitamin C or B vitamins. Instead, it's stored in the liver and partly in fatty tissue .

A one-time high intake is usually not immediately harmful. Your liver can temporarily store small surpluses. But it's precisely this storage that makes it risky. With prolonged, excessive intake, the supply becomes overloaded, and damage can occur.

The problem arises primarily when you consume too much vitamin A for weeks or months at a time, for example, by taking high doses of supplements or regularly eating liver products. Such an excess is called hypervitaminosis A. ( 2)(3)

Complaints that may accompany this include:

• Headache and dizziness
• Nausea and vomiting
• Fatigue and irritability
• Dry skin, hair loss and chapped lips
• Joint and bone pain
• Increased liver values ​​with long-term use (4)

During pregnancy, your body is extra sensitive to high doses of retinol (the animal-derived and directly active form of vitamin A).

Research shows that too much retinol increases the risk of birth defects in the baby , especially when this occurs during the first trimester , the phase in which the organs develop.

That is why organisations such as the RIVM, Nutrition Centre and WHO advise during pregnancy:

• Do not eat liver products (such as liver sausage or liver pate).
• Avoid taking supplements containing retinol (vitamin A). It is often recommended to choose a multivitamin with beta-carotene instead of retinol.
• No medications containing retinoids (e.g., isotretinoin for acne). These medications are strictly prohibited during pregnancy. (7)(8)(9)(10)

The main causes of too much vitamin A are:

• Retinol Supplements – Often the biggest culprit with long-term high intakes. (11)
• Liver and liver products – Extremely rich in vitamin A, which will quickly take you above the safe limit.
• Medications – Some agents act like retinoids and can contribute to an overdose.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has set the upper limit (UL) for adults at 3,000 micrograms of retinol per day . That sounds like a lot, but in practice you'll exceed it faster than you think. (12)(13)

• Nutrition - A 50-gram slice of liverwurst can contain over 4,000 µg of vitamin A. That puts you well over the safe limit in one fell swoop.
• Supplements - The recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 800 µg retinol equivalent (RE) for men and 700 µg for women. For supplements containing the retinol form of vitamin A, this means you reach the upper limit at four times the RDA (≈ 400%).

Vegetables like carrots, spinach, and sweet potatoes contain beta-carotene (provitamin A). Your body only converts this into vitamin A when needed. Therefore, it's impossible to get too much from vegetables.