It includes: 150,000 IU of beta carotene
(A), 10 mg folic acid, 400ug selenium and 6 gms Vit C, and is to be
taken for about 6-8 wks.  I have looked at Hale's book (2002), and he
suggested that doses over 5000-10000 are not safe, period. The Nursing
Mother's Herbal (Humphrey) states that megadoses of Vitamin A can
potentially enter the milk in toxic amounts. Tom's latest post to
lactnet on the subject said that no one knows for sure how much will
transfer, but the potential for problems is pretty high.

Answer:  Beta-carotene is not vitamin A, and that is an important
distinction.  Think of B-carotene as two vitamin A molecules which are
safely locked together permanently unless your body chooses to separate
them.  

Vitamin A toxicity is easily achieved and dangerous.  There is as yet no
known toxicity of beta carotene.  The National Academy of Sciences, which
gives us our RDA, also recently developed UL's or Upper Limits of safety on
supplements.  This is what they say:

"The UL for vitamin A from retinol is 10,000 IU. You can find
single-nutrient supplements with 25,000 IU of vitamin A in any health-food
store. You can put yourself in danger by taking those on a daily basis. And
children are better off with a daily multi that has no more than the UL for
vitamin A, which is 3,000 IU for 4- to 8-year-olds and 2,000 IU for younger
children."

"Those ULs assume that all of the vitamin A in the supplement comes from
retinyl palmitate or other forms of retinol, not from beta-carotene or other
carotenoids, which have no UL because there is insufficient evidence of
toxicity."

Always be sure that you are careful not to take megadoses of vitamin A.
Unlike beta-carotene, vitamin A is potentially very toxic and can be lethal.

Arly Helm, MS, IBCLC

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