Too much Vitamin A (Sweet Potatoes)

Carrie29 · Feb 17th, 2010, 13:15 PM

Ok, i hope i am being totally paranoid but i can't help worrying again!!

I am trying to stick to my PCOS pre pregnancy diet as much as i can as it was very healthy. Basically cutting out refined carbs, sugar etc. Well tonight i cooked sweet potato mash with sausages and i ate probably 3 small potatoes.. i then stupidly looked it up online and apparently we should only eat 1 sweet potato as it is very high in vit a and too much can cause birth defects and M/C. Now i just keep thinking i've done something bad by eating the mash when i thought it was so healthy..

Has anyone else eaten allot of sweet potatoes in past pregnancies and turned out to be fine?

hoping:) · Feb 17th, 2010, 13:33 PM

you should be fine

I've heard that it is the synthetic vitamin A that can cause problems. Vitamin a in fruits and veggies is beta carotene

i found this on babycenter.com:
Actually, it's easy to get plenty of vitamin A from the average American diet, since it's widely available in meat, dairy, fish, eggs, and fortified cereals in the form of "preformed vitamin A" as well as in most fruits and vegetables in the form of beta-carotene (a nutrient that gets converted to vitamin A by your body as needed).

The trick during pregnancy is not to get too much of the preformed vitamin A, which in high doses can cause birth defects and liver toxicity. The government considers 3,000 mcg RAE (10,000 IU) the maximum amount of preformed vitamin A that you should get from supplements, animal sources, and fortified foods each day. (NOTE: You can still get as much beta-carotene as you want from fruits and vegetables.)

hope that helps!

Feb 17th, 2010, 13:15 PM	#1
Carrie29 Pregnant (Expecting) Active BnB Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 774	Too much Vitamin A (Sweet Potatoes) Ok, i hope i am being totally paranoid but i can't help worrying again!! I am trying to stick to my PCOS pre pregnancy diet as much as i can as it was very healthy. Basically cutting out refined carbs, sugar etc. Well tonight i cooked sweet potato mash with sausages and i ate probably 3 small potatoes.. i then stupidly looked it up online and apparently we should only eat 1 sweet potato as it is very high in vit a and too much can cause birth defects and M/C. Now i just keep thinking i've done something bad by eating the mash when i thought it was so healthy.. Has anyone else eaten allot of sweet potatoes in past pregnancies and turned out to be fine?

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Feb 17th, 2010, 13:33 PM	#2
hoping:) Mum (Mom) BnB Addict Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Colorado Posts: 2,584	you should be fine I've heard that it is the synthetic vitamin A that can cause problems. Vitamin a in fruits and veggies is beta carotene i found this on babycenter.com: Actually, it's easy to get plenty of vitamin A from the average American diet, since it's widely available in meat, dairy, fish, eggs, and fortified cereals in the form of "preformed vitamin A" as well as in most fruits and vegetables in the form of beta-carotene (a nutrient that gets converted to vitamin A by your body as needed). The trick during pregnancy is not to get too much of the preformed vitamin A, which in high doses can cause birth defects and liver toxicity. The government considers 3,000 mcg RAE (10,000 IU) the maximum amount of preformed vitamin A that you should get from supplements, animal sources, and fortified foods each day. (NOTE: You can still get as much beta-carotene as you want from fruits and vegetables.) hope that helps!

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