Vitamin A in OJ

[ProudlymadeinSA]

Hello

6 weeks pregnant and have just realised that for at least the last month I've been drinking a glass a day of orange juice fortified with vitamin A. There don't seem to be any non fortified fruit juices available where I live in Africa.

Shall I worry? Stop drinking it?

Thanks!

Bump

I was the same . I'm in Mexico where EVERYTHING has it added: juice, milk, bread. I spent the first few weeks carefully checking every packet, and then realised I'd starve.

I'm assuming it's not a problem given how many pregnant women I've seen - none of them look starved or dehydrated. I wouldn't worry too much - vitamin A's naturally found in lots of things anyway, so it's probably not at a level that can harm. I think things like pate and liver just have crazily high levels of it.

Just to add, I know people here who are happy munching away on liver and pate throughout pregnancy too, and their babies are fine.

Thanks Porcito!

i was prescribed iron tablets when my iron levels were slightly too low and the doctors actively advise taking these WITH orange juice so i guess from this advice that it isnt a problem..

the vitamin A in juices, etc is unlikely to be the retinol form which is the form linked to birth defects. It is more likely to be beta-carotene in the juices which is a safe form.

www.care2.com/greenliving/is-vitamin-a-safe-for-pregnant-women.html?page=1 - this explains it a bit better than me

Vitamin A found in fruit and vegetables is different from the vitamin A found in liver. The plant version has to be converted in to pure vitamin A by your body, so it's much less potent than the animal version, which goes straight in to your system as is.

If the orange juice is being supplemented by beta-carotene vitamin A (the plant version) then it's quite a weak form of vitamin A and even a large intake will only result in a small amount once your body has converted it.