Vitamin A: The “Essential Nutrient” That May Be Hurting You

Vitamin A Toxicity: When Supplements Do More Harm Than Good

We’ve been told since childhood that vitamin A is essential for vision, immunity, and skin health.

Carrots help us see in the dark. Cod liver oil helps us grow strong.

So we assume vitamin A supplements are harmless — maybe even necessary.

But here’s the problem:

Most vitamin A supplements are not the same as the vitamin found in food.

And the synthetic versions can accumulate in the body, become toxic, and cause long-term harm.

The supplement industry rarely mentions this part. But it’s time we talk about it.

What Is Vitamin A?

In nature, vitamin A exists as a complex — a family of compounds found in foods like:

• Carrots
• Sweet potatoes
• Spinach
• Kale
• Apricots
• Pasture-raised egg yolks
• Liver (in small, occasional amounts)

Your body converts beta-carotene (a plant compound) into usable vitamin A as needed.

Self-regulated. Intelligent. Safe.

But synthetic vitamin A supplements don’t work that way.

Beta Carotene vs Retinyl: What’s the Difference?

Most vitamin A supplements contain:

• Retinyl palmitate
• Retinyl acetate

These are lab-made chemical versions of Vitamin A.

Your body’s conversion system does not moderate them. They build up in the liver and fatty tissues.

Over time, this can lead to a condition called hypervitaminosis A, which causes:

• Hair loss
• Dry skin
• Bone pain
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Mood changes
• Birth defects in pregnancy
• Liver damage

There are no flashing warning signs on the bottles. No reminder that vitamin A is fat-soluble — meaning the excess doesn’t get flushed out.

The Irony: “Deficiency” Is Manufactured

Why do so many people believe they are deficient in vitamin A?

Because the supplement industry — and much of medicine — frames health problems backwards.

Dry skin?
Poor night vision?
Fatigue?

“Must be low vitamin A,” they say. But the truth is: Many of these symptoms are actually signs of vitamin A toxicity, not deficiency.

When toxic vitamin A builds up, it can cause the same symptoms marketed as deficiency symptoms.

This creates a cycle where the answer is always: “Take more.”

A profitable loop. Not a healing one.

How the Body Actually Wants Vitamin A

Your body is brilliant. It wants provitamin A (beta carotene) from plants, so it can convert what it needs, when it needs it.

This is why you can eat carrots every day and never overdose. Your body decides. You stay safe.

This is what real nutrition looks like.

But synthetic vitamin A supplements override your body’s wisdom — forcing a biochemical flood instead of a balanced process.

Symptoms of Vitamin A Toxicity

Vitamin A is not just a nutrient — it is a signaling molecule that affects gene expression.

Meaning: It has hormone-like power.

This is why too much vitamin A affects:

• Skin turnover
• Bone remodeling
• Cell division
• Immune response
• Brain chemistry

Yet supplements are sold casually, with no warnings, oversight, or informed consent.

Safer Whole-Food Sources of Vitamin A

Your body does not want synthetic retinyl anything. It wants food.

Safer, effective vitamin A sources include:

• Carrots
• Sweet potatoes
• Winter squash
• Dark leafy greens
• Papaya
• Mango
• Red bell peppers
• Apricots

If you eat a rainbow of plants, your body regulates vitamin A perfectly — no measuring, no testing, no guessing.

Should You Stop Taking Vitamin A Supplements?

If you currently take vitamin A (retinyl palmitate, retinyl acetate, or “fish liver oil”): Stop it.

If your multivitamin contains it (most do): Reconsider the multivitamin completely.

If your practitioner recommended it: Ask a question they usually can’t answer:

“What form is it, and what is the long-term accumulation risk?”

If they don’t know, they shouldn’t be recommending it.

[Related: What Are Multivitamins Really Made Of? The Truth Behind Those ‘Healthy’ Pills]

The Big Picture

Vitamin A is not the villain. Synthetic, isolated, industrial vitamin A is.

Your body is not fragile.
Your body is not confused.
Your body is not missing pills.

It is missing real food and uninterrupted biological intelligence.

Give it those things, and it heals.

 

Want the Full Story and Research?

This post is adapted from Chapter Seven of Take Daily: How Supplements Hijack Your Health — where we break down exactly how vitamin A supplementation became a widespread health myth. Discover the full story.