Do vitamin A supplements deplete vitamin A?

Dave Clark

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Ray says to rinse the carrots for the carrot salad to reduce carotene. A lot of us avoid high carotene foods like sweet potatoes and pumpkin. Doesn't Ray always say Retinyl palmitate is preferred to avoid beta-carotene in supplements.
Doesn't that sound a bit anal retentive? I mean, rinsing carrots is not getting rid of any carotenes, of any measurable amount. When did anyone rinse a carrot off and watch orange coloring drain down the sink? Whew, some of the stuff that Ray says is a bit dramatic.
 

Blue Water

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I'm really hesitant about vitamin A. At one point I was eating a lot of liver and it made me very sick. I got vitamin A deficiency symptoms like dandruff, poor night vision, eczema, hair loss, joint aches, etc. and was really confused, until I realized that it must be toxicity that I was experiencing. Vitamin A gets stored and can creep up on you, especially if you lack certain cofactors. In order to get rid of the issue I had to increase those cofactors (the ones I know of are zinc, vitamin D, and vitamin E) and basically do a vitamin A elimination diet for a while, with my diet consisting of black beans, rice, cauliflower, beef, and chicken breast. I didn't eat dairy, eggs, green veggies, nothing.

The problem is, most multivitamin supplements contain vitamin A. I have always been reluctant to get multivitamins for this reason, but at the same time, I need something to provide me with the basic nutrition without taking 1,000 pills each morning, so I bought pure encapsulations zero copper, zero iron multi. It contains 3,750mcg of vitamin A––60% in the form of beta carotene, and 40% in the form of acetate. So now I am getting all paranoid again. I am most likely going to take the supplement every other day and on off-days, do a very low vitamin A diet.

Does anyone know how to increase utilization/metabolism of vitamin A? Did I miss any cofactors?
 

youngsinatra

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I'm really hesitant about vitamin A. At one point I was eating a lot of liver and it made me very sick. I got vitamin A deficiency symptoms like dandruff, poor night vision, eczema, hair loss, joint aches, etc. and was really confused, until I realized that it must be toxicity that I was experiencing. Vitamin A gets stored and can creep up on you, especially if you lack certain cofactors. In order to get rid of the issue I had to increase those cofactors (the ones I know of are zinc, vitamin D, and vitamin E) and basically do a vitamin A elimination diet for a while, with my diet consisting of black beans, rice, cauliflower, beef, and chicken breast. I didn't eat dairy, eggs, green veggies, nothing.

The problem is, most multivitamin supplements contain vitamin A. I have always been reluctant to get multivitamins for this reason, but at the same time, I need something to provide me with the basic nutrition without taking 1,000 pills each morning, so I bought pure encapsulations zero copper, zero iron multi. It contains 3,750mcg of vitamin A––60% in the form of beta carotene, and 40% in the form of acetate. So now I am getting all paranoid again. I am most likely going to take the supplement every other day and on off-days, do a very low vitamin A diet.

Does anyone know how to increase utilization/metabolism of vitamin A? Did I miss any cofactors?
On the same quest. I beg you, please don‘t take retinyl acetate - it was the worst for me!
 

youngsinatra

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My understanding is that kale is one of the highest sources of plant copper. Charles Barker from Mitosynergy promotes the copper 1 theory more than anyone I have heard. It sounds very plausible that minerals from plants have the best uptake. I personally subscribe to the idea that oral vitamin D is a problem, and is not the way nature intended for us to get our D, plus there are many arguments about storage D and active D and what levels are appropriate, etc. I feel sunlight is the best way to get sufficient D. I also use vitamin A in supplement form in small amounts, even though I consume grass fed meats, dairy, etc., just to make sure I am getting enough. I have not seen convincing proof that supplement form of retinol is bad, regardless of the thread here on this forum. So, copper can be found in many food sources, but taking a copper 2 supplement, to me, is maybe contributing to copper toxicity, especially if Charles Barker's assertions are correct. If you grow your own food, you can increase the copper levels safely. In the non-growing season, treat the soil area with copper sulfate, it will make the soil replete with copper, which the plant will convert to copper 1 once it becomes growing season {eliminates the possibility of the soil being deficient, hence the food not having enough copper}. Here is a video for FYI:
Really interesting. Many think that the animal-form of copper is most bioavailable!
Will have a deeper look at the work of this guy.
 

Dave Clark

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Really interesting. Many think that the animal-form of copper is most bioavailable!
Will have a deeper look at the work of this guy.
I would think that animal source copper would sort of be the same as plant copper, since the animal, assuming their diet is grass, etc., is consuming plant copper. Perhaps the worst source is the chelated inorganic sources of copper, which he calls copper2. It only makes sense to consume nutrients/minerals from natural sources, rather than a form constructed in the lab. My personal belief is that the copper problems people are experiencing is caused by other metals like mercury {Hg}, which has the same oxidative state as copper, and will displace copper in the cell, causing it to be free, and then a resulting deficiency and toxicity syndrome. It's not always about how much or what kind you are consuming, but what is happening to it in the body. Many people are toxic with Hg due to dental amalgams, and even if you don't have them, Hg is in the food. air, vaccines, etc., which we cannot escape from. Hg also causes iron dysregulation, so when people get rid of their Hg burden, their anemia goes away.
 

Apple

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Really interesting. Many think that the animal-form of copper is most bioavailable!
Will have a deeper look at the work of this guy.
Copper in black beans is very bioavailable
Black beans were confirmed to be a good source of iron, zinc and copper with a high bioaccessibility of copper (about 70%) from cooked beans.
The bioaccessibility of iron
and zinc, however, were found to be low (about 0.2% for iron and 35% for zinc)
 
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Blue Water

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On the same quest. I beg you, please don‘t take retinyl acetate - it was the worst for me!
I actually found the same supplement from pure encapsulations but it only has vitamin A in the form of beta carotene. Less of evils, I guess.
 
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Peatness

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This is a quote from Dr Peat about vitamin A in response to a question by Pulstar - "an overdose of vitamin A can create symptoms of a vitamin A deficiency"

Ray:
Since the symptoms can be produced by activation of the pro-inflammatory angiotension system, and an overdose of vitamin A can create symptoms of a vitamin A deficiency (vitamin A normally works with vitamin D to inhibit that system), I think it might help to supplement some vitamin D (about 5000 IU unless you get good sun exposure), vitamin A (about 10,000 IU), with some vitamin E (20 to 50 IU), thyroid hormone (according to temperature and pulse rate), and a good ratio of calcium to phosphate in the diet. An angiotensin blocker such as candesartan might help with joint pain and depression.


If anyone can elaborate on this please do
 
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