Vitamin A

A normal balanced diet will give you all the vitamin A that you and your baby need. Too much vitamin A may harm your developing baby. During pregnancy it is best if you:

• Don’t eat liver, or liver products such as liver pate (liver may contain a lot of vitamin A due to the type of food the animals have been fed on)
• Don’t take any fish oil supplements (these may also contain high levels of vitamin A; better to eat oily fish such as mackerel and sardines)
• Don’t take any vitamin supplement that contains the retinol form of vitamin A (check the labelling)

There is no need to limit your intake of the carotene form of vitamin A. This is found in dark green, orange and red vegetables. Carotene is a valuable antioxidant.