Should I Worry About The Bioavailabilty Of Vitamin A On A Low-fat Diet?

[tyler]

Hello guys and gals!
I have a concern- I'm wondering if my intake of oral Vitamin A is useless if I follow a low-fat diet? I am typically eating from 15-20g of fat per day.
How much fat is needed for absorption when ingesting Vitamin A? Is the saturated fat that your body creates from carbohydrate enough?
I found this thread from @haidut (would love if you could chime in here) that revealed a study showing taurine improving the bioavailablity of fat soluble vitamins. That being said, if I take 500mg of Taurine with my Vitamin A while remaining low fat, will that ensure absorption?
Thank you all in advance for your insight!

 

[ecstatichamster]

i'm taking fat soluble vitamins with a fatty meal, when I eat eggs which is almost the only fat I have. I'm also taking K2 with a teaspoon or so of coconut oil. That's the only fat I'm getting that I can quantify.

 

[Koveras]

Hello guys and gals!
I have a concern- I'm wondering if my intake of oral Vitamin A is useless if I follow a low-fat diet? I am typically eating from 15-20g of fat per day.
How much fat is needed for absorption when ingesting Vitamin A? Is the saturated fat that your body creates from carbohydrate enough?
I found this thread from @haidut (would love if you could chime in here) that revealed a study showing taurine improving the bioavailablity of fat soluble vitamins. That being said, if I take 500mg of Taurine with my Vitamin A while remaining low fat, will that ensure absorption?
Thank you all in advance for your insight!

What brand/form of vitamin A are you taking?

 

[tyler]

What brand/form of vitamin A are you taking?

Carlson's Vitamin A Palmitate 15,000IU.
It comes in a capsule, which is why I take it orally. I use high doses of Vitamin A so (60,000iu-100,000iu) and I can't make it financially feasible with Nutrisorb or other retinol drops.

 

[DaveFoster]

The fat needed to increase absorption of fat-soluble vitamins is miniscule. There's some divergent evidence, but your body tends to absorb vitamins just fine.

Absorption is slightly improved with the addition of fat.

Absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and sterols

 

[Koveras]

The fat needed to increase absorption of fat-soluble vitamins is miniscule. There's some divergent evidence, but your body tends to absorb vitamins just fine

I think there was some evidence that Vitamin K2 had optimal absorption with upwards of 35g of fat.

I suspect the amount of oil in those capsules would be fine for Vitamin A.

On a side note.

Carlson - 240 caps x 15,000 IU = 3,600,000 IU @ $16.12 = 223,325 IU/dollar

Health Natura - 1430 drops x 2,500 IU = 3,575,000 IU @ $19 = 188,157 IU/dollar

No financial incentive, but fairly small price difference and you get MCT oil vs safflower oil (although maybe shipping costs add a bit as well?)

 

[tyler]

Right on @DaveFoster , thanks for sharing that study/graph. I'd imagine I shouldn't be worried then, especially if I take them along with my egg at breakfast .

 

[tyler]

I think there was some evidence that Vitamin K2 had optimal absorption with upwards of 35g of fat.

I suspect the amount of oil in those capsules would be fine for Vitamin A.

On a side note.

Carlson - 240 caps x 15,000 IU = 3,600,000 IU @ $16.12 = 223,325 IU/dollar

Health Natura - 1430 drops x 2,500 IU = 3,575,000 IU @ $19 = 188,157 IU/dollar

No financial incentive, but fairly small price difference and you get MCT oil vs safflower oil (although maybe shipping costs add a bit as well?)

Good to know! Thanks for sharing. That's a pretty good deal and probably worth it to avoid the PUFA. I will give these a run next time I need to order. Thanks again for the link.

 

[haidut]

Hello guys and gals!
I have a concern- I'm wondering if my intake of oral Vitamin A is useless if I follow a low-fat diet? I am typically eating from 15-20g of fat per day.
How much fat is needed for absorption when ingesting Vitamin A? Is the saturated fat that your body creates from carbohydrate enough?
I found this thread from @haidut (would love if you could chime in here) that revealed a study showing taurine improving the bioavailablity of fat soluble vitamins. That being said, if I take 500mg of Taurine with my Vitamin A while remaining low fat, will that ensure absorption?
Thank you all in advance for your insight!

Vitamin E, A, and D need as little as 2g of fat in a meal to get absorbed. So, you are pretty much guaranteed to absorb it with any meal. Taurine will increase absorption and actual availability to the cells but will not ensure absorption in the absolute absence of fat.