Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2005 May;75(3):187-94.
doi: 10.1024/0300-9831.75.3.187.

Exposure to retinoic acids in non-pregnant women following high vitamin A intake with a liver meal

Stefan Hartmann  1 , Odd Brørs, Jürgen Bock, Rune Blomhoff, Jochen Bausch, Ulf W Wiegand, Dieter Hartmann, Dietrich H Hornig
Affiliations
Free article
Clinical Trial

Exposure to retinoic acids in non-pregnant women following high vitamin A intake with a liver meal

Stefan Hartmann et al. Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2005 May.
Free article

Abstract

Animal liver is a rich source of vitamin A. Due to retinoic acid (RA) metabolites, vitamin A has a teratogenic potential and women are generally advised to avoid or to limit the consumption of liver during pregnancy. In a recent study in non-pregnant female volunteers following single and repeated doses of up to 30,000 IU/day of vitamin A as a supplement, the plasma concentration time curve of all-trans RA acid showed a diurnal-like profile. But, the overall exposure (AUC24h) remained essentially unaltered whereas AUC24h increased linearly with dose for 13-cis and 13-cis-4-oxo RA. The current study in non-pregnant female volunteers showed that a single high vitamin A intake with a liver meal (up to 120,000 IU) exhibited a similar diurnal-like plasma concentration time curve for all-trans RA and its overall exposure remained also unaltered, despite a temporary two-fold increase in peak plasma concentration. Concentrations of 13-cis and 13-cis-4-oxo RA increased several-fold after a liver meal, and exposure (AUC24h) increased three- to five-fold. Pooling our results with data in the literature revealed a linear relation between the mean AUC24h of 13-cis and 13-cis-4-oxo RA and vitamin A intake with liver. Metabolism to all-trans RA of vitamin A with liver seems not to be of safety concern. However, the observed increase of plasma concentrations and the dose-dependent increase in exposure to 13-cis and 13-cis-4-oxo RA support the current safety recommendations on vitamin A intake and suggest that women should be cautious regarding their consumption of liver-containing meals during pregnancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources