Is Fish Oil (Cod Liver Oil) Safe with Vitamin A high dose?
Free · No account · based on published sources including NIH ODS, FDA drug labels, and peer-reviewed literature
Avoid cod liver oil supplementation when taking high-dose Vitamin A medications. Cod liver oil contains substantial preformed Vitamin A (up to 4,500 IU per teaspoon), creating risk of toxic cumulative dosing. Choose omega-3 supplements from fish body oil instead.
Why this interaction occurs
Cod liver oil provides significant quantities of preformed retinol. Combined with therapeutic Vitamin A doses, total intake can rapidly exceed the tolerable upper limit of 10,000 IU/day, increasing risk of teratogenicity, intracranial hypertension, and hepatotoxicity.
Evidence
Evidence level: strong.
Reported safety data
The FDA’s adverse event reporting system (FAERS) has received 5,826,371 reports mentioning Vitamin A high dose. This reflects reported cases involving the medication in general — not confirmed causation, and not specific to the Vitamin A high dose + supplement combination on this page.
FAERS reports are voluntary and cannot prove that a drug caused an event. Do not use report counts to assess the safety of this specific drug-supplement pair.
Frequently asked questions
Related interactions
All Fish Oil (Cod Liver Oil) interactions → · All Vitamin A high dose interactions →
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Educational only — not medical advice.
Always confirm with your doctor or pharmacist.