What Is Vitamin A In International Units?
Vitamin A is the name of a group of fat-soluble retinoids. Two forms of vitamin A are available in the human diet: preformed vitamin A and provitamin A carotenoids.
IU is a unit of measurement for fat-soluble vitamins, like vitamin A.
Vitamin A is found naturally in many foods. It can also be added to fortified foods.
Getting too much-preformed vitamin A, the form found in supplements, over a prolonged period can lead to toxicity. Supplementation should only be used periodically.
Toxicity from food sources is rare.
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Vitamin A Is An Essential
Vitamin A is not just one vitamin. It is the name of a group of fat-soluble retinoids, like retinol, retinal, and retinyl esters. (source ◳)
Vitamin A is an essential nutrient that cannot synthesize in the body. Therefore it must be obtained through diet. (source ◳)
What is IU?
IU stands for International Units. It’s a unit of measurement for vitamins and other specific substances. It is commonly used to measure fat-soluble vitamins, like Vitamin A, D, and E.
Vitamins are measured in milligrams, micrograms, or international units. Milligrams and micrograms show the amount of mass in a sample. But international units show the level of biological activity of the substance. (source ◳)
For unit conversion, the formula is:
To convert Vitamin A as retinol:
From IU to mcg: IU * 0.3 = mcg
Example: 5000 IU * 0.3 = 1500 mcg
(source ◳)
Foods You Can Find Vitamin A, IU In
You find Vitamin A, IU mostly in fats and oils, american indian and alaska native food, beef, and vegetable products.
Examples of food sources include
- Cod Liver Fish Oil
- Moose Liver
- Beef Liver
- Walrus Liver
- Sweet Red Peppers
- Veal Liver
- Carrot
Foods That Contain Vitamin A, IU In Our Nutrition Tool
You can find regularly updated top ranked lists of foods for over 200+ nutrients in our nutrition tool.
If you are interested in what foods contain the most Vitamin A, IU we recommend you visit our tool.
Here's our top ranked list of foods that contain Vitamin A, IU.