Vitamin A: Vitamin or Villain?

I will be reading the autoimmune link, thanks

Holy buckets, the 2nd autoimmune link PDF is 400+ pages!!!!!!!

400 pages is a project in itself for me.

"Extinguishing the fires or Hell" - what a title.

Post Edited (astroman) : 5/19/2018 5:32:37 PM (GMT-6)

Hey, astroman:

Did you have any opportunity to read either of the above blog posts (the comments are very interesting, too) or either of the e-books? If not, no big deal. I was just curious, as the topic is garnering a lot of new interest from readers of a different blog I follow.

I've asked for some input from a couple of folks and they said the guy (Grant) has some interesting theories, but they feel he's wrong. But, some "regular" folks on both blogs (the one linked above and the other one that I actually follow) either claim benefit from avoiding Vitamin A, or, greatly reducing it.

I'm hoping Psilociraptor might see this post, too, and check-out the above blog posts and/or e-books.

Be well,
Dude

Yeah, I think he just returned from one trip and was about to take another.

Spirulina which I take at 2x the dosage has 250% daily per dosage. So I am taking 500% per day. I feel fine.
Unfortunately you'll have to Buy my ebook if you want to know more! <cringe>

oregonhay said...
Spirulina which I take at 2x the dosage has 250% daily per dosage. So I am taking 500% per day. I feel fine.
Unfortunately you'll have to Buy my ebook if you want to know more! <cringe>

If that was a shot at Grant, his e-books are free. He sells nothing.

I’ve never taken vitaminA because it worried me that it can accumulate in your tissues.
It’s fat soluble right?

You can eat carrots - that are full of beta carotene which the body converts to vit A

Notime4lyme said...
How about the vitamin A from carrots? I like to drink carrot juice and also eat sweet potatoes. I'm probably getting at least 1000% of my daily value of vitamin A. I don't feel worse, but is this a bad idea? I only drink carrot juice because it is lower in sugar than other juices.

It all depends on the individual, their history, and what health challenges they might have, if any. The devil is in the details, so it's not as easy as "Is Vitamin A good or bad?" We could kill ourselves by drinking too much water. But, of course, that doesn't mean water is bad.

With Vitamin A, Grant (the author) has proposed a theory. He and others have gone on a low/no Vitamin A diet and reported benefits doing so. But, we don't know their history. Were they megadosing on Vitamin A supplements? Were they eating lots of Vitamin A fortified foods?

The Doctor interviewed in the above link, like any reasonable person, was skeptical of the claim, just based on it sounding so outlandish. But, as he drilled down into the matter, researched PubMed, and implemented/observed changes in himself and his patients, his opinion slowly changed to one of curiosity. It's an ongoing project.

So, back to your original question. If you drink carrot juice and feel fine, then I probably wouldn't change anything. If you've spent years pounding high doses of Vitamin A supplements and have any of the conditions described in Grant's free e-books or the above-linked audio interview, then perhaps reconsider. This is my opinion.

The point of the post wasn't to invoke mass hysteria about Vitamin A. It was more of a diversion about something that seemed interesting that may or may not be relevant or accurate. If it does turn out to be relevant to some, I imagine it will be a small number of people.

Best wishes.

More interesting stuff (thanks though) to go along with other interesting stuff we already research. Is there a condensed version of this 400 page autoimmune pdf?

So many causes of autoimmune though, it cant be primary vit D. Think of all the people who don't take vitamins and have autoimmune. Most autoimmune is gut related. Enter the "Vitamin A free diet"....oh boy....hard to keep up.

The deal with peoples "blogs" and "books" ect- just more time vampires and hard to read / retain. Some are to the point though.

I remember the first thyroid book I bought 20 years ago, like 250 pages. Take out all the BS and its only 30 pages long of useful info, but 30 page pamphlets don't sell lol.

pardon my rambling.....getting more common haha..........

astroman said...
More interesting stuff (thanks though) to go along with other interesting stuff we already research. Is there a condensed version of this 400 page autoimmune pdf?

A Naturopath in Arizona has a lot of writings on his Blog-Forum on the Vitamin A topic:

https://nutritionrestored.com/blog-forum

astroman said...
So many causes of autoimmune though, it cant be primary vit D. Think of all the people who don't take vitamins and have autoimmune. Most autoimmune is gut related. Enter the "Vitamin A free diet"....oh boy....hard to keep up.

I realize you don't have enough context. The point, it seems, is that food fortification -- along with the chronic intake of vitamin supplements -- is what can lead to Vitamin A problems. (Perhaps other fat-soluble vitamins, too, but Grant's work seems to be focused on Vitamin A.) I'm not suggesting it's a panacea...or, that it even affects most people. But, for people dealing with health issues and not getting to the root cause, I think the theory is worth considering.

As I've written a few times, over the past months, I stopped all vitamin/mineral supplementation. The only supplement I take is low-dose melatonin. The Vitamin A topic did help me make the decision, but it was something I'd already been going back-and-forth on, anyway. I'd stopped-and-restarted vitamin and mineral supplements a few times.

Since then, I've been looking closer at food labels. Perhaps you've never taken multivitamin supplements or eaten fortified foods. But, for people like me -- who spent several decades eating crappy, fortified foods, the amount of Vitamin A (in its various forms) could easily lead one to unhealthy or even dangerous levels. Again, it's fat-soluble and can accumulate in the body.

I think it seems pretty obvious that vitamin and mineral supplements are not the same as what's in food. The composition, quantities, and ratios are artificial. Thus, I don't think we can expect our bodies to recognize and handle them as such. That's my opinion. People are free to disagree or cite whatever supporting evidence they wish. I'm fine, either way.

astroman said...
The deal with peoples "blogs" and "books" ect- just more time vampires and hard to read / retain. Some are to the point though.

I remember the first thyroid book I bought 20 years ago, like 250 pages. Take out all the BS and its only 30 pages long of useful info, but 30 page pamphlets don't sell lol.

I agree. It's a shame that every topic of critical importance can't fit on a single page of double-spaced text.

The lowering of vitamin d (Marshall protocol) isn’t very popular - it’s a very difficult one to follow - I know of one person who successfully treated with a “version” on that protocol.

Canada apparently has more cases of diagnosed MS - but who knows what the true reason is.

Maybe it’s due to the fact that we’re generally behind on lyme diagnosis/treatment.
And there could be other factors...

Correlation or cause?

Why not just take the beta carotene and let your body convert it as needed? Is there any reason/need to take Vitamin A?

I was supplementing with the Swanson methylated B’s

and it was on Dr J’s list of lab work - I was over the range - of course I went deep into that rabbit hole...

That was between March and May 2018.

I’m planning on retesting soon - just have to figure out if it’s cheaper at Quest or here at home.
I will be in DC in a couple months

I don’t think Canada stopped testing - it will always be good to test if what we’re taking in is enough.

We’ve always had to pay for it - unlike most of the lab work we get done.