The Label
Vitamin A — 630 mcg
The most studied nutrient in the whole of skin science. Here is what it is, what it does, and what our figure means.
What Vitamin A Is
Vitamin A is the most studied nutrient in the whole of skin science, and its active form behaves less like a nutrient than like a hormone. Retinoic acid binds nuclear receptors sitting directly on your DNA and switches entire gene programmes on and off.
It arrives in the diet in two forms. Preformed vitamin A — retinol and its esters — comes from animal foods and is used directly. Provitamin A carotenoids such as beta-carotene come from plants and are converted by the body at a rate it controls. That distinction is not academic: it is the whole of the safety story.
What It Does
In skin cell maturation
The genes retinoic acid governs in skin are the ones that decide how a keratinocyte matures on its journey from the basal layer to the surface. This is why prescription retinoids are the backbone of dermatology, and why vitamin A deficiency produces characteristic rough, dry, bumpy skin.
In sebum and follicles
Retinoids influence sebum production and how the lining of a hair follicle behaves. That is the mechanism behind their use in acne, and it is a prescription-strength mechanism rather than a nutritional one.
In vision, for completeness
Retinal, another form, is the light-sensitive molecule in the retina. Night blindness is the earliest sign of vitamin A deficiency worldwide and remains a leading cause of preventable childhood blindness. It is not why the nutrient is on our panel, but it is worth knowing what else it does.
Our Amount
630 mcg In Every Serving
Our serving carries 630 mcg. The adult recommendation is roughly 700 to 900 mcg a day and the upper limit for preformed vitamin A is 3000 mcg. So this is a full contribution, comfortably inside the ceiling on its own — and the one figure on our label where what you take alongside it genuinely matters.
Retinoic acid, the form your body converts vitamin A into, behaves more like a hormone than a nutrient: it binds receptors sitting directly on your DNA and switches whole sets of genes on and off. In skin those genes decide how a cell matures on its journey from the basal layer to the surface. It is also the one amount on our label with a ceiling we ask you to respect.
When People Fall Short
Deficiency is rare in developed countries and devastating where it is common. Night blindness comes first, then dryness of the eye surface, then damage to the cornea. In skin it produces phrynoderma, a rough follicular thickening sometimes described as toad skin.
Where it does occur in wealthy countries it is almost always secondary to fat malabsorption, since vitamin A needs dietary fat to be absorbed at all.
Where It Occurs In Food
| Source | Roughly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Beef liver | Over 6000 mcg per 75 g | Enormous. This is why liver is limited in pregnancy |
| Sweet potato | About 960 mcg RAE per half cup | Carotenoid form, self-limiting |
| Carrots | About 460 mcg RAE per half cup | The same, and famously so |
| Spinach | About 470 mcg RAE per half cup cooked | Dense and reliable |
| Butter and cheese | 50–100 mcg per serving | Preformed, and it counts toward the ceiling |
| Eggs | About 75 mcg each | Preformed, modest |
The Ceiling, And The Cautions
This is the caution that matters most on our whole panel. Preformed vitamin A is fat soluble, stored in the liver, and has a real upper limit of 3000 mcg a day for adults. Exceeding it chronically causes headaches, hair loss, bone pain, liver damage and dry cracked skin — several of them the opposite of what anyone taking this is hoping for.
In pregnancy it is more serious still. High preformed vitamin A intake in early pregnancy is teratogenic, meaning it can cause birth defects. If you are pregnant, may be pregnant, are breastfeeding or are trying to conceive, do not take Gelagen without your doctor's approval.
The same conversation applies if you take a multivitamin containing vitamin A, use a prescription retinoid such as isotretinoin or acitretin, or eat liver regularly. Beta-carotene from vegetables is not part of this problem — your body converts it at a rate it controls — but preformed vitamin A from every supplement and animal source adds up.
Answers
Vitamin A Questions
The questions we are asked about this nutrient specifically.
Is 630 mcg safe?
On its own it sits comfortably inside the 3000 mcg adult ceiling. The risk is arithmetic: adding a multivitamin, a separate vitamin A supplement or a prescription retinoid on top is how people exceed it without noticing.
Can I take it during pregnancy?
Not without your doctor's approval. This is the single clearest contraindication on our label and we repeat it on every relevant page for that reason.
Is this the same as a retinol cream?
No. A topical retinoid works directly on the skin it is applied to at concentrations a nutritional amount never reaches. If you use one, tell your prescriber you are also taking dietary vitamin A.
Does beta-carotene count toward the limit?
No. Conversion from carotenoids is regulated by your body, which is why you cannot reach vitamin A toxicity from carrots. Very large intakes can turn your palms orange, which is harmless and reverses.