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The Dangers Of Vitamin A To Pregnant Women To Be Included On Label

by Medindia Content Team on Jul 21 2005 5:29 PM

Most women planning a pregnancy take a general multivitamin supplement in the belief that they are doing the best thing for them and their baby, however a recent survey suggests that too much vitamin A can cause development defects in unborn babies but many women do not consider the vitamin's presence in most multivitamin supplements say researchers based on a recent survey. The survey conducted by Oxfordshire brand of the UK's Trading Standards has found a third of multivitamin products tested did not carry a warning for pregnant women about vitamin A.

David Adams, director of the UK's Health Food Manufacturer's Association (HFMA), says that the organisation's code of practice for all member companies supplying food supplements requires a warning to pregnant women on all supplements providing more than 800mcg of preformed vitamin A (as retinol) daily. He also added that in meetings between industry organisations and the Food Standards Agency that culminated in last year's agreement to add advisory statements to labels of various food supplements, it was agreed to review vitamin A labelling when a pending safety study on the vitamin by the UK's scientific advisory committee on nutrition had been completed.

However ,the trading standards authority found that, between November last year and March this year, 20 out of 60 multivitamin products did not carry vitamin A warnings, including leading brands such as Sanatogen, Centrum and Quest. Thus they say if manufacturers do not agree to label products, then more serious moves should be taken to introduce compulsory legislation.

For more information on pregnancy read:
https://www.medindia.net/patients/
patientinfo/pregnancy.asp


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