Hey everyone,
so I was reading about beta carotene and that too much vitamin A can actually cause me to be at a much higher risk of lung cancer and other cancers (I had previously smoked for about a year then recently quit) should I be worried about overdosing on vitamin A because i take 2 Cod liver oil pills a day (containing 2000 iu's, 40% daily value each) and I eat sweet potatoes everyday at usually 2 meals. I have never turned orange off of eating sweet potatoes and I dont eat carrots too often.
Please help
Thanks.

If you smoke or were a smoker, taking a beta carotene supplement will increase your chances of getting lung cancer. That only applies to the supplement, eating foods high in beta carotene will reduce your chances. One of the theories on this is the supplement displaces other carotenes naturally present in beta carotene containing foods that are cancer preventative.

If your so concerned about too much Vit A, why not cut back to one Vit A per day?
I eat about 3 sweet potatoes per week, eat carrots with roast, stew, soup, & sometimes add thin slices to
Chile, salads, etc. I only take a Vit A when I haven't eaten anything yellow or orange for awhile.

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As you don't get much omega 3 or vitamin d in cod liver oil capsules so I'd change to fish oil capsules
Fish oil capsules don't have vitamin A or vitamin d
But ideally you really need to take a separate vitamin d3 capsule of effective strength.
I use IHERB because their postage to UK is cheapest. From their list I'd choose
Country Life, Vitamin D3, 5,000 IU
and
Nature's Answer, Liquid Omega-3, Deep Sea Fish Oil EPA/DHA
If I wanted capsules rather than liquid I would choose
Now Foods, Ultra Omega-3, 500 EPA/250 DHA

The vitamin A your getting from food is probably sufficient.

Iherb $5 discount Code WAB666 for new users.

thank you so much guys, i will definitely consider just taking omega 3 instead of cod liver oil, the only thing is the cod liver oil supplies me with vitamin e too, should i start taking a supplement for that if i stop taking them? i already have omega 3s, i usually take 2 cod liver pill and 1 900mg omega 3 supplement a day

I get vitamin E from the food sources
Sunfower seeds
Almonds
there may also be some in the Coconut oil I use for baking and cooking.
Vitamin E is another of those substances that act as Vitamin D ligands so is more useful than many are aware.
Antioxidants such as vitamin E also put in fish oils to stop oxidation. It wouldn't matter if you also supplemented with vitamin E as you are taking currently taking 1 900mg omega 3 supplement a day. I think a vit E supplement could be used instead of the cod liver oil.

thanks so much, i actially eat like half to one cup of almonds everyday. so i should be covered =]

Interesting that I read this b/c I just recently added a page to my site regarding vitamin A overdose and deficiency. One of the groups that should be aware of Vitamin A deficiency are those who smoke and drink alcohol. I also read (and added) that supplementing on beta carotene does more harm than good.

I think one of the theories is b/c since both alcohol and smoking cause increases in free radicals that the additional antioxidants are like a breeding ground for the free radicals. Kinda like taking antioxidants while under chemo. The cancer cells will eat up the antioxidants in order for them to continue "living." Same principle here I believe.

Check out the page at https://www.antioxidantsdetective.com...-symptoms.html

Hope this helps.