Hi everybody this is Monica Reinagel the nutrition diva here with your quick and dirty

tips for eating well and feeling fabulous people who are interested in nutrition spend a lot of time worrying about

whether they're getting enough nutrients. Today I'd like to talk about a few

nutrients that you could be getting too much of. A lot of people take vitamin supplements just to make sure that they're getting the recommended amount of nutrients.

But people taking nutritional supplements often end up getting significantly more than the recommended amount of certain nutrients and more is not always

better. Vitamin A is a good example. Vitamin A helps you see in the dark, fight off infections

and make red blood cells. The recommended amount is 3,000

IU, that's international units for healthy adult men and a little less for adult

women. But many vitamin supplements, especially high-potency formulations, can contain as much as 5,000

IUs of Vitamin A. If you take a couple of different supplements, say a multivitamin plus an

antioxidant supplement, you can easily go over the safe upper limit of 10,000

IUs.

Signs of Vitamin A overload include headaches, bone and joint pain, and itchy peeling skin,

eventually it can even lead to liver damage.

Vitamin A is really not that hard to get from foods.

It's found in eggs, milk, butter, and fortified breakfast cereals,

and your body also makes Vitamin A from beta carotine,

which is found in, yes, carrots,

but all kinds of other fruits and vegetables as well.

Beta carotine is only converted into Vitamin A as needed by the way, so supplements or foods that contain

beta carotene won't contribute to vitamin A overload.

My advice is to check the label on any and all supplements that you take on a regular

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