Q: Can children die of acute Vitamin A overdose? If yes what is the lethal dose?

A:It is highly unlikely that an overdose of vitamin A will kill any child. The normal dose is in the range of 2500 to 5000 international units. Even 10 times of this dose will not result in death. At the most acute overdose will result in dry hair, peeling of skin and enlargement of liver. Most of the products containing vitamin A have modest quantities of this important agent. For instance MAXIM Hp (Dabur) contains 6250 international units per 100g while one-time dose is only 25g. Thus quantity of Vitamin A per dose is only about 1650 i.u. Lay press reports of death due to alleged use of Vitamin A could be due to contaminated preparations, not because of overdose.