Worrying About Too Much Vitamin A and Iron

Question
QUESTION: Hello,

My question is about vitamin A and whether or not I could be consuming too much of it. I have been taking dessicated liver tablets and chlorella on and off for the past few months now, but have become concerned since I've read the dangers of consuming too much vitamin A. Is there any guidelines I could follow? The dessicated liver gives percentages on all of its nutritional values except vitamin A. I have searched for chlorella's viamin A content and it is available, but I'm finding it difficult trying to add up all of the figures. I know that they are extremely nutritional - but that is also part of the problem it seems. Too much iron may be another problem.

Am I worrying too much or is this a potential problem? Some guidelines might stop me from worrying so much. The liver tablets are around 2g each and the chlorella I take are 500mg each.

Thanks.

ANSWER: Hi Paul,

First of all I can't give you medical advice but I'll tell you what I would do personally.

You can't overdose on Vitamin A from plant foods, ONLY from animal foods because the conversion of carotenoids into vitamin A is downregulated when your body's needs are met. Eating liver every day can be very dangerous for that reason that it's super-concentrated animal-derived preformed Vitamin A and can build up to toxic levels. If you're concerned, I would stop eating liver. There's no concern with Vitamin A from any plant foods such as chlorella.

You can also overdose on iron as well, but that's generally only by taking iron supplements or multivitamins full of iron. I'm not personally familiar with desiccated liver tablets but if you're taking a lot and it's concentrated then it could potentially cause a problem.

I'm really curious why you're taking desiccated liver?

I hope that helps!

I share a lot more nutrition tips in my newsletter which you can get access to for free at www.AuthenticHealthCoach.com

Wishing you wellness,
Tom

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the answer. I became interested in dessicated liver after reading some good reviews about it. Vince Gironda, who was an old time bodybuilder and famous gym owner was one of the first people to recommend dessicated liver tablets, and they were apparently quite popular with bodybuilders during the 70's and 80's. They have now regained some popularity and a lot of people think they help with the muscle building process because of the amino profile. I did notice a slight improvement in my physique when I took them alongside creatine and a good diet. But I can't be totally sure of their effects. I will just try and be sensible with the amount I take.

As for the chlorella, I became interested in that after reading about how nutritious it was and how it was very high in chlorophyll and could get rid of unwanted metals etc, as well as being the number 1 supplement in Japan. But I like to hear objective opinions, so it's always good to know about potential dangers as well.

Answer
Hey Paul,

That's really fascinating. I haven't heard of using that before for bodybuilders, I'll have to look into it. I would be more cautious of creatine than liver (assuming you're not eating massive amounts of liver) because creatine is an artificial supplement and it does have side effects. If you value looking good and having bigger muscles over being healthy, then maybe it's the right choice. But I personally value being healthy over looking good so I would never put creatine in my own body.

Chlorella is indeed very good for you as are a lot of the other algae like spirulina and other dark green plants and vegetables. It does help chelate the body, helping it to get rid of heavy metals.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.

Tom

1. Prev:tofu
2. Next:Worried About Consuming too Much Vitamin A