Vitamin A Calculator
Vitamin A comes as retinol, from animal foods and supplements, and as beta-carotene and other carotenoids, from plants — and the body gets different amounts from each. Older labels use IU. This calculator converts them all into one figure, retinol activity equivalents (RAE).
Enter the amounts from a supplement label or food table. Leave a box empty if it doesn't apply.
Total vitamin A
µg RAE
Enter at least one amount
% of the US RDA ( µg RAE)
Retinol activity equivalents (US National Academies)
Preformed (retinol)
µg
Upper limit µg a day — counts retinol only
India (ICMR-NIN 2020)
µg a day
| Form | µg RAE |
|---|---|
1 µg RAE = 1 µg retinol = 2 µg supplemental beta-carotene = 12 µg food beta-carotene = 24 µg alpha-carotene or beta-cryptoxanthin. IU: 0.3, 0.3, 0.05 and 0.025 µg RAE respectively (NIH Office of Dietary Supplements).
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These figures are estimates for general awareness only and are not medical advice or a diagnosis. Read our Medical Disclaimer.
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How this is calculated
1 µg RAE = 1 µg retinol = 2 µg beta-carotene from supplements = 12 µg beta-carotene from food = 24 µg alpha-carotene or beta-cryptoxanthin from food (US National Academies; NIH Office of Dietary Supplements). For IU: 1 IU retinol = 0.3 µg RAE; 1 IU supplemental beta-carotene = 0.3 µg RAE; 1 IU dietary beta-carotene = 0.05 µg RAE; 1 IU alpha-carotene or beta-cryptoxanthin = 0.025 µg RAE (NIH Office of Dietary Supplements). The US RDA is 900 µg RAE for men and 700 µg for women (770 µg in pregnancy, 1,300 µg while breastfeeding); the upper limit of 3,000 µg a day applies to preformed vitamin A (retinol) only.
Why the conversion matters
The same "IU" figure can mean very different amounts of vitamin A. According to the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, the men's RDA of 900 µg RAE equals 3,000 IU of retinol — but 18,000 IU of beta-carotene from food, or 36,000 IU of alpha-carotene.
Preformed vitamin A and the upper limit
The upper limit counts only preformed vitamin A (retinol), found mainly in liver and fish oils, and in milk and eggs. Intakes above it can cause birth defects, so women who might be pregnant should not take high-dose vitamin A supplements. Beta-carotene is not known to cause this.
India's figure
ICMR-NIN 2020 recommends 1,000 µg a day for adult men and 840 µg for women. Its summary does not say whether these are in RAE, so we show them for reference rather than mixing them into the RAE total.
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