Toxicity

The condition caused by vitamin A toxicity is called hypervitaminosis A. It is caused by overconsumption of preformed vitamin A, not carotenoids. Preformed vitamin A is rapidly absorbed and slowly cleared from the body. Therefore, toxicity from preformed vitamin A may result acutely from high-dose exposure over a short period of time or chronically from a much lower intake (2). Acute vitamin A toxicity is relatively rare, and symptoms include nausea, headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, dizziness, dry skin, desquamation, and cerebral edema. Signs of chronic toxicity include dry itchy skin, desquamation, anorexia, weight loss, headache, cerebral edema, enlarged liver, enlarged spleen, anemia, and bone and joint pain. Also, symptoms of vitamin A toxicity in infants include bulging fontanels. Severe cases of hypervitaminosis A may result in liver damage, hemorrhage, and coma. Generally, signs of toxicity are associated with long-term consumption of vitamin A in excess of 10 times the RDA (8,000-10,000 μg RAE/day or 25,000-33,000 IU/day). However, more research is necessary to determine if subclinical vitamin A toxicity is a concern in certain populations (89). There is evidence that some populations may be more susceptible to toxicity at lower doses, including the elderly, chronic alcohol users, and some people with a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol (90). In January 2001, the Food and Nutrition Board of the US Institute of Medicine set the tolerable upper intake level (UL) of vitamin A intake for adults at 3,000 μg RAE (10,000 IU)/day of preformed vitamin A (56).

Source: https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/vitamins/vitamin-A