Speaking of vitamin A and vitamin D, I believe parents will never be unfamiliar with them. Appropriate amount of vitamin A and vitamin D is especially important for baby’s eyesight and bone development.
There are too many health care products and drugs containing vitamin A and vitamin D on the market, and parents are inevitably suspicious in the process of purchasing:
How much is appropriate?
It is said that excessive vitamin A is easy to be poisoned. Do you need to supplement it?
Vitamin A and vitamin D are added to the milk powder. Do you need any extra supplements?
Today, Dr. Clove will explain parents’ doubts about vitamin A and vitamin D one by one.
Can vitamin AD be poisoned?
Vitamin A and vitamin D play an important role in the visual system, bone development, respiration, digestion and immune system in infants. Some drugs/health products contain vitamin A and vitamin D at the same time, commonly known as vitamin AD mixture.
Some parents are more cautious and worry that supplementing vitamin AD mixture, especially vitamin A in it, will lead to baby poisoning. In fact, this kind of worry is unnecessary.
Generally speaking, if you take it according to the drug instructions or the dosage given by the doctor, you will not be poisoned.
In nutrition, there is a concept called Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL), which means that as long as a certain nutrient does not exceed this level, it will hardly cause side effects.
The poisoning dose of general nutrients is several times or even dozens of times that of UL. As long as the supplementary nutrients do not exceed this amount, poisoning will not generally occur.
The maximum tolerable intake of vitamin A and vitamin D can be found in the following table:
| 年龄 | 维生素 A | 维生素 D |
| 0 岁～ | 2 000 | 800 |
| 0.5 岁～ | 2 000 | 800 |
| 1 岁～ | 2 333 | 800 |
| 4 岁～ | 3 000 | 1 200 |
Note: The data source in the above table is the reference intake of dietary nutrients of Chinese residents (2013 edition)
The content of vitamin A and vitamin D in vitamin AD mixture is within the safe range, and it will not be excessive if used according to the instructions.
Is cod liver oil vitamin AD mixture?
Nowadays, many parents often confuse vitamin AD drops with cod liver oil in the true sense, and often call vitamin AD drops cod liver oil.
But in fact, the two are different.
In a narrow sense, cod liver oil is a fat extracted from the liver of sharks, cod, etc. It is yellow and has fishy smell, mainly containing vitamin A and vitamin D. In a broad sense, cod liver oil also includes liver oil of sea animals such as whales and seals. At normal temperature, it is yellow and transparent liquid with a slight fishy smell.
The most common ratio of vitamin A to vitamin D in natural cod liver oil is 10: 1. There are cod liver oil drugs and health care products in the market. The composition of health care products cod liver oil is relatively chaotic and has no therapeutic effect on diseases.
Vitamin AD drops, with a general ratio of vitamin A to vitamin D of 3: 1, can be used to prevent and treat vitamin A and D deficiency, such as rickets, night blindness, dry eye and pediatric hand and foot convulsions.
Do you need vitamin D to go out to bask in the sun every day?
Both China and the United States recommend that infants under 2 years old should be supplemented with 400 IU of vitamin D every day.
Although human skin can synthesize vitamin D after ultraviolet radiation, the synthesis efficiency is affected by many factors, such as skin exposure area, time, season, climate, clouds, air pollution, latitude, living environment, skin color, sun protection measures, clothing, age, etc.
However, the air pollution problem is serious in most parts of our country. In addition, high-rise buildings are shielded and latitude conditions are limited. Therefore, vitamin D synthesized by babies through ultraviolet radiation is often insufficient to meet the demand. Moreover, if babies under 6 months old receive too much ultraviolet radiation, they may damage their skin and eyes and increase the risk of skin cancer. Babies under 12 months old should stay in the shade all the time.
At the same time, vitamin D supplements are an important way to supplement vitamin D because there are very few kinds of foods that can provide vitamin D.
Therefore, even babies who go out to bask in the sun need additional vitamin D supplements. Generally speaking, it is safe to supplement 400IU every day.
There is vitamin D in milk powder. Do you need any extra supplements?
There is now a consensus that babies need vitamin D supplementation regardless of how’s feeding method.
For all infants (full-term infants) aged ≤ 12 months, no matter what feeding method they receive, it is recommended to take vitamin D 400 IU every day to prevent rickets.
Moreover, for children over 12 months old, all children and adults need to take vitamin D that meets their nutritional requirements through diet or supplements. The American Medical Research Institute recommends taking at least 600 IU of vitamin D every day.
Can vitamin AD and cod oil or seaweed oil be eaten at the same time?
The main components of most cod oil or seaweed oil are DHA and EPA, which are also commonly known as [brain gold]. Some cod oil or seaweed oil contain a small amount of vitamin A and vitamin D, but generally eating together will not cause excessive amount.
Of course, the premise is that the baby is indeed given seaweed oil with DHA and EPA as its main ingredients, not vitamin D supplements.
If you want to use vitamin D alone, parents need to calculate the daily intake according to the drug instructions. As long as the total amount of vitamin A and vitamin D does not exceed the maximum tolerable intake, it is safe.