Quick answer

Take vitamin A with a meal. It dissolves in fat, and in one study a meal with only 3 g of fat worked as well as one with 36 g for beta-carotene from a supplement. No study in our sources compares morning with night, so pick the meal you are least likely to skip.^1,2

Key facts

From supplements, the body absorbs 70% to 90% of preformed vitamin A and 8.7% to 65% of beta-carotene.¹
People taking orlistat are told by its label to take their multivitamin at least 2 hours before or after it.³
With isotretinoin, timing does not solve anything: its label says to avoid vitamin A supplements altogether.⁴
Most of the body's vitamin A is held in the liver as retinyl esters.¹

Take it with food

Vitamin A is fat soluble. In the gut, all of its forms are dissolved into micelles before the cells lining the upper small intestine absorb them.¹

In a one-week study, beta-carotene and alpha-carotene from a supplement raised blood levels as much when taken with a meal containing 3 g of fat as with 36 g.²

In practice, that means swallowing it with breakfast, lunch or dinner rather than with water on an empty stomach. The meal does not need to be rich: in that study, the low-fat meal held just 3 g of fat.²

Morning or night?

None of our sources compares a morning dose with an evening one. The only time of day they mention is bedtime, on the orlistat label, and there the point is to keep a multivitamin away from orlistat, not any advantage of the evening.³

If your supplement's label gives a time or says to take it with a meal, follow it. Otherwise choose a meal you eat every day, which makes a daily habit easier to keep.

Capsules, tablets and chewables

Most vitamin A supplements supply preformed vitamin A as retinyl acetate or retinyl palmitate. The body absorbs 70% to 90% of the preformed vitamin A in supplements.^1,5

Beta-carotene is a provitamin A that the body converts into vitamin A. From supplements, 8.7% to 65% of it is absorbed, and 2 mcg of supplemental beta-carotene counts as 1 mcg RAE.¹

Our sources do not compare capsules, tablets and chewables. They do show large differences between the forms of vitamin A inside, so check the label for retinyl acetate, retinyl palmitate or beta-carotene.¹

Taking it with other supplements

Spreading products across the day does not change your total. The upper limit of 3,000 mcg a day for preformed vitamin A counts everything you take in a day, from food, drinks, a multivitamin and any separate vitamin A supplement.^1,5

Medicines that change the plan

The orlistat label tells people taking orlistat to take a multivitamin with fat-soluble vitamins at least 2 hours before or after it, such as at bedtime, because orlistat reduced the absorption of a beta-carotene supplement by about 30%.^1,3

Isotretinoin is different: no spacing makes the combination acceptable, because its label says to avoid supplements that contain vitamin A. NIH also warns that other retinoid medicines, such as acitretin and bexarotene, can push vitamin A to toxic levels when combined with vitamin A supplements.^1,4

When you start any new medicine, show the pharmacist your supplement labels and ask whether the timing matters for it.

Questions people ask

Should I take vitamin A in the morning or at night?

Either, as long as you take it with a meal. No study in our sources found that one time of day works better than the other.

Can I take vitamin A on an empty stomach?

It is better taken with food. Vitamin A dissolves into fat in the gut before it is absorbed, and in one study of beta-carotene a meal with only a few grams of fat was enough.^1,2

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Sources

This page is information, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about your own situation.