How do I convert 2% of daily recommended vitamin A to IU?

[RN_Janet]

My DietDiary asks for vitamin A in IU measurements when adding new foods, but my bag of potato chips only lists Vitamin A as 2% of the daily recommended amount. How do I convert this nutrient from percentage to international Units?

[Paxiled]

I don't know the answer to your question, but just google how to convert I.U. to mg.  But the fact is, fat soluble nutrients are listed in IUs, so any recommended dietary advice for Vitamin A should be in IUs, not mgs, really.  Same with Vitamin D, E, and any other fat soluble nutrients.  The important thing to know is, you really don't look for Vitamin A in food because an excess of Vitamin A is liver toxic.  What you usually try to do is eat the recommended amount of beta carotene, which the body safely converts to Vitamin A, eliminating any potential problems.  As for a potato chip, there is no nutritional value in eating them.  They are empty calories, as any nutrition in them is so minimal and the fat and salt content of most of them so high this is just fun food but is always bad for you.  But again, the source for your Vitamin A should mostly be by eating foods high in beta carotene, which is the safe way to get it.  Your Diet Diary has more important uses than looking for Vitamin A, I guess is the key here.  All the best.

[Paxiled]

Now, an exception might be for someone who already has liver problems and therefore must be more careful about Vitamin A content.  But again, that would usually be listed in IUs.

[whitesunshine]

Nice post useful information White Sunshine

[RN_Janet]

I'm going to use the retinol value since potato chips probably don't have much beta carotene in them; They are light and not pigmented. Plus it is the lower value.

The daily recommended amount of Vitamin A (RAE) is 700 mg. Which is 700,000 mcg.

1 IU = 0.3 mcg retinol
1 IU = 0.6 mcg beta-carotene


700,000 mcg  x  0.3 mcg  / 1 IU =

210,000 IU

That doesn't make sense...

[RN_Janet]

These are the resources I was able to find. But I can't figure out which value to use in the conversion.  

1 IU = 0.3 mcg retinol
1 IU = 0.6 mcg beta-carotene


https://dietarysupplementdatabase.usda.nih.gov/Conversions.php

https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/resources/2015-2020_Dietary_Guidelines.pdf

[RN_Janet]

I only could find that the daily recommended amount of Vitamin A (RAE) is 700 mg. How do I convert RAE to IU?