How To Get The Vitamin A That Isn't In The ThinkPharm Formula

The recommended daily intake is 3000 units (900µg) for men and 2330 units (700µg) for women in the US (1), whereas the recommendation in the UK is 2330 units (700µg) for men and 2000 (600µg) units for women (2). It is important to not get too much. It exists in two main forms. Retinol which is an active form found in animal foods and beta-carotene which is a form found in plants which your body needs to convert to the active form.

If (as a man) you eat liver, you can get all your weeks’ worth of vitamin A from 85 grams of lamb liver (3). Unless you are going to consume such small amounts of liver per week, it is not recommended to include liver into the diet. Most people don’t like the taste of liver and the vitamin A content of liver can actually vary quite considerably. For example, beef liver from New Zealand (4) has ≈5.5 times more vitamin A than regular liver (5)!  Similarly New Zealand lamb liver (6) has ≈2 times more vitamin A than regular liver (7). For these reasons, liver doesn’t really make sense as a source of vitamin A for most people. Partly due to the taste and partly due to the risk of getting too much.

There is vitamin A naturally present in more reasonable amounts in eggs and different types of dairy.

Eggs: 1 Large egg with the yolk = 300 units/egg (8) (each egg is 50.3grams) (note that the vitamin A is mainly found within the yolk, which is part of why we whole eggs can be healthy) 

Dairy: Whole milk = 103 units/100ml (9). Fat free milk = 15 units/100ml (10).

(Note about milk: the vitamin A is found in the fat portion of the milk. This means the less fat is present in the milk, less vitamin A there is. This is part of why we recommend whole milk.)

Yogurt (plain – whole milk) = 99 units/100grams (11)

Cheese: varies widely depending on the cheese. Cheddar = 1053 units/100gram (12). Brie = 592 units/100grams (13). Mozzarella = 676 units/100grams (14). Parmesan = 781 units/100grams (15). Camembert = 820 units/100grams (16). Feta = 422 units/100grams (17).

Butter  = 2500 units/100grams (18). Although we don't believe butter to be as healthy a food as cheese.

One may be worried at the thought of including these foods containing saturated fat in the diet. That’s understandable based on what you may have been told about saturated fat. As we mention in our article on calcium, levels of vitamin A predict heart attacks just as well as one’s level of good cholesterol. Saturated fat is necessary for health. Recent research presented by Professor Nita Forouhi from Cambridge University seems to show that saturated fat from eggs, yogurt and cheese can reduce risk of coronary heart disease. The opposite effect is seen with saturated fat from red meat. You can see this on the youtube video where she gives a presentation on the topic (19). The graph you want to see is at around 17:38. In fact, their research also reveals saturated fat from dairy may have protective effects against type 2 diabetes.

Unless you have a huge cheesy omelette every day, these foods will probably not get you up to your daily requirement for vitamin A. Although we believe a cheesy omelette can be a part of a healthy diet, we probably wouldn’t have such a big cheesy omelette every single day. One can eat beta-carotene containing foods to make up the rest. Your body can then convert the beta carotene to vitamin A if needed. Beta-carotene is found in plant foods. Fortunately, it is thought you can’t really overdose on beta carotene from whole foods. How much beta carotene do you need? It is said 12 units of beta carotene are equivalent to 1 unit of retinol (20). This means the 3000 unit requirement becomes 36,000 units if we are relying on beta carotene and 2000 units becomes 24,000 units. Beta carotene is fat soluble so in practice it is best absorbed when fat is added to the beta-carotene containing food, so you don’t have to consume as much.

Let’s look at what foods can provide us with this beta carotene.

Foods high in beta carotene include (data has once again been sourced from the USDA database - https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/):

Kale = 15,376 units/100grams

Orange flesh Sweet potatoes = 14,185 units/100grams

Carrots = 16,705 units/100grams

Baby carrots = 13,790 units/100grams

Spinach = 9376 units/100grams

Butternut squash = 10,631 units/100grams

Turnip greens = 11,586 units/100grams

Mustard greens = 10,502 units/100grams

Dandelion greens = 10,160 units/100grams

This means you theoretically only need about 200 grams of carrots or sweet potatoes baked/steamed and drizzled in olive oil to make up your vitamin A requirements for the day (if you are a woman).

In practice though not everyone converts beta carotene to vitamin A with the same efficiency. This will depend on factors like genetics, thyroid hormones, protein intake, iron intake, saturated fat intake and vitamin E intake (amongst other things). Chris Masterjohn PhD elaborates on this in his article and video (21). In fact, as Dr Rhonda Patrick mentions, people with certain genes may be 69% worse at converting beta-carotene to vitamin A (22). This means 3 times less vitamin A would be produced from beta carotene. This may mean one needs 36x more beta carotene than vitamin A to ensure that vitamin A requirements are met. This would constitute between 500 grams to 750 grams of sweet potatoes depending whether you’re male or female and depending on whether you’re going by the US or UK guidance. Not everyone likes the taste of the foods highest in beta carotene, which 

Some people may find this level of sweet potato intake allows for less freedom in their diet. Not everyone likes the taste of the foods highest in beta carotene. This is why we think it is best to try to get some animal-derived vitamin A and make up the rest with plant foods.

If you want to learn more about the vitamin and mineral content of foods, you can see the original data at https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/ or https://nutritiondata.self.com/ (which takes its data from the FDC website and make it more easily accessible).

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Disclaimer: Food supplements are intended to correct nutritional deficiencies, maintain an adequate intake of certain nutrients, or to support specific physiological functions. The ThinkPharm Formula (or any other food supplement) is not a medicine and therefore cannot and does not claim to treat or prevent disease. All content on this website is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. None of the scientific studies quoted on this website qualify as proof or implication that ThinkPharm Health's supplements treat or prevent disease. Findings of scientific studies do not always represent reality. It is always difficult for scientific studies to reach accurate conclusions regarding nutrition and its relationship to diseases. Please consult your healthcare professional before making any significant changes to your diet and lifestyle. ThinkPharm Health is not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting on information from this website.