Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

If you are thinking about vitamin A and pregnancy you should know that this is one of the numerous kinds of vitamins that you need.

Make sure that you have all the nutrients that you and your baby will use to have a healthy and happy pregnancy.

Pregnancy and vitamin A

This is a fat soluble vitamin that is stored in your liver and that is essential for the embryonic growth of the baby. This includes the development of the lungs, heart, eyes, kidneys and bones along with the respiratory, central nervous system and the circulatory system.

Having vitamin A during pregnancy is also important because it has a role to play in fat metabolism and infection resistance. In case of the mothers, it helps with the tissue repair after giving birth. It helps women fight off infections and maintain a normal vision.

How much vitamin A to have?

In case you are thinking about vitamin A and pregnancy it is good to know that if you are over 19 you need about 770 micrograms of vitamin A. If you are under 19 you need 750 micrograms per day. You don’t need to get the recommended amount on a daily basis, but get it as an average over the course of a longer period of time.

Too much vitamin A when being pregnant

The average diet offers enough vitamin A. You can find it in dairy, meat, fish, fortified cereals and eggs. In this case you get retinol. From the fruits and vegetables you can get carotenoids. During pregnancy it is very important not to have too much preformed vitamin A because in high doses it leads to liver toxicity or birth defects.

According to official information regarding vitamin A and pregnancy the maximum daily amount of vitamin A that pregnant women should have from animal sources, supplements, and fortified foods is of 3,000 micrograms. In case of women under 19 this limit is of 2,900 micrograms.

When considering vitamin A while being pregnant this is one of the reasons for which you shouldn’t take more supplements and vitamins than the amount recommended by your health care provider. In the majority of the cases the prenatal vitamins have a part of their vitamin A content in the form of beta-carotene.

However, if you are thinking about vitamin A and pregnancy you should know that some of the over the counter multivitamins have vitamin A in the form or preformed vitamin A. This is why you should always check the label and talk to your doctor before you start taking any kind of vitamins.

Another thing to consider regarding pregnancy vitamin A is that the possible birth defects caused by vitamin A are one of the reasons for which you shouldn’t use isotretinoin, which is an acne treatment, during your pregnancy.

As you can see there is a lot of available information regarding vitamin A and pregnancy and you should make sure that your baby is safe from this point of view.