How Do You Know How Much Is Too Much For Food?

[George Knighton]

There is a certain IU amount for vitamin supplements before one can reach its toxicity level. But is this per day or what? I'm lacking in Vitamin A and C, but how much is too much for the actual food itself? How many oranges or mangoes should I eat per day to reach a sufficient amount of Vitamin A or C? Or am I better off eating one Centrum pill per day?

[mushroom]

There is, so far as I know, no toxicity level for Vitamin C as it is water soluble and any amount excess to the body's needs is excreted (too much may give you diarrhea though). 1000 mg in a divided dose is a good start. You might want to read this article Open Original Shared Link on Vitamin A to decide how much you should take. Mostly,of course, it is best to get most of your nutrients from food, but celiacs with their damaged guts cannot do this until they are healed.

[Skylark]

You are better off eating one Centrum pill a day AND eating a nutritious and varied diet. Centrum provides the US RDA, which is designed to be safe to take for everyone, and is considered the bare minimum to avoid severe deficiency diseases. Think of the Centrum as insurance, so if your diet falls a little short you won't have get scurvy or rickets. Even taking the RDA, you can still be on the low side for some vitamins, as the RDA is ultra-conservatively safe and may be low for some individuals. A lot of nutritionists object to the low levels in the RDA because the amount of a vitamin to prevent a deficiency, like vitamin C and scurvy, and the amount for optimum health can be quite different.

As far as vitamin C I agree with Mushroom. A few hundred mg a day, or even as much as a gram has been demonstrated to be safe. It may have the added bonus of reducing your risk for cancer and heart disease, although the research is a little controversial.

Vitamin A is a little different. Vitamin A itself is only found in supplements and can be overdosed. The natural food source is carotenoids, which your body converts to A as needed. It is safe to take a pill with the RDA of vitamin A (often provided as a mix of A and carotenoids) and then eat all the orange foods you like because your body just won't convert any more vitamin A than it needs. As far as I know, you cannot overdose on carotenoids although drinking carrot juice by the quart can turn your skin an interesting color.

[George Knighton]

Thank you guys for a very quick response and great insight! So far its better than the answers I've found on Google

[cassP]

  On 1/16/2011 at 11:57 PM, George Knighton said:

Thank you guys for a very quick response and great insight! So far its better than the answers I've found on Google

SO TRUE