Reports Of Vitamin A Toxicity Are Greatly Exaggerated

[haidut]

This is a human study and as you can see it used up to 500,000 IU vitamin A daily for months for acne treatment without any serious signs of toxicity. Most doctors will warn you that vitamin A will cause liver issues, but as you can see this was not the case here.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6453848

"...Oral vitamin A (retinol) is generally not considered useful in the treatment of acne vulgaris. We conducted a study which showed that retinol was indeed ineffective at the usual doses of 50,000 to 100,000 IU daily. Retinol was highly efficacious in doses of 300,000 units for women and 400,000 to 500,000 units for men, toxicity was slight and limited mainly to skin (xerosis) and mucous membranes (cheilitis). The danger of hypervitaminosis A in this dosage range has been exaggerated. Retinol is a valuable drug for treating stubborn, severely inflammatory acne vulgaris. It is administered until the disease is brought under control, usually within three to four months. Then the dosage is progressively reduced relying on conventional drugs to keep the disease in abeyance."

 

[lexis]

What about anti thyroid effect of Vitamin A?

 

[mbarvian]

Or the fact that liver becomes unpalatable in such doses?

 

[haidut]

post 104186 What about anti thyroid effect of Vitamin A?

I thought you may ask about this one. It looks like vitamin A acts just like thyroid.
viewtopic.php?f=116&t=8131

 

[Orion]

This is a human study and as you can see it used up to 500,000 IU vitamin A daily for months for acne treatment without any serious signs of toxicity. Most doctors will warn you that vitamin A will cause liver issues, but as you can see this was not the case here.

Oral vitamin A in acne vulgaris. Preliminary report. - PubMed - NCBI

"...Oral vitamin A (retinol) is generally not considered useful in the treatment of acne vulgaris. We conducted a study which showed that retinol was indeed ineffective at the usual doses of 50,000 to 100,000 IU daily. Retinol was highly efficacious in doses of 300,000 units for women and 400,000 to 500,000 units for men, toxicity was slight and limited mainly to skin (xerosis) and mucous membranes (cheilitis). The danger of hypervitaminosis A in this dosage range has been exaggerated. Retinol is a valuable drug for treating stubborn, severely inflammatory acne vulgaris. It is administered until the disease is brought under control, usually within three to four months. Then the dosage is progressively reduced relying on conventional drugs to keep the disease in abeyance."

Would retinol mean the retinyls in this study?

This study seems to confirm palmitate is OK orally at high doses: [Optimal dosage in peroral therapy of acne with vitamin A palmitate]. - PubMed - NCBI

Should mention that study does say liver impairment at over 300K for long periods.

 

[dfspcc20]

I thought you may ask about this one. It looks like vitamin A acts just like thyroid.
viewtopic.php?f=116&t=8131

I get a "not found" error.

 

[haidut]

Would retinol mean the retinyls in this study?

This study seems to confirm palmitate is OK orally at high doses: [Optimal dosage in peroral therapy of acne with vitamin A palmitate]. - PubMed - NCBI

Should mention that study does say liver impairment at over 300K for long periods.

The retinyl esters metabolize into retinol in the body. So, yes, they should have the same effect eventually.

 

[haidut]

I get a "not found" error.

The effect of vitamin A supplementation on thyroid function in premenopausal women.

 

[Kyle Bigman]

Grant Genereux's Theory Of Vitamin A Toxicity

Haidut, have you seen this thread? I have been experiencing joint pain/autoimmune symptoms since taking estroban, and also noticed joint pains after consuming liver.

 

[Runenight201]

Grant Genereux's Theory Of Vitamin A Toxicity

Haidut, have you seen this thread? I have been experiencing joint pain/autoimmune symptoms since taking estroban, and also noticed joint pains after consuming liver.

Definitely don't continue to take something that causes pain.

My train of thought is that in those with compromised liver with saturation of vitamin A stores, more vitamin A can cause issues. Perhaps your body is saturated and the excess A causes problems.

Liver causes the worst acne in me, but I'm unsure if that's because of my inability to properly digest meats or the vitamin A itself. I also get cysts from consuming ruminant meat. Could be the excess phosphate, methionine, cysteine, and iron that just do my body no good. I get joint pain from eating pasta, and I'm unsure if it's the excess phosphate or gluten. The mental well being I get from eating pasta every now and then far outweighs the temporary joint pain in my opinion.

I am contemplating with strict Vitamin D supplementation, and continuation of my normal diet, which includes plenty of vitamin A from cheese, OJ, and the occasional leafy greens.

Looking over the foods eaten in the Vitamin A deficiency diet, I can positively conclude that I would degenerate very quickly eating food like that. Beef, rice, strict restriction of veggies and coconut oil....I don't think I'd make it past day two before feeling very depressed and low energy. I think if one obtains vitamin A from normal food sources (dairy, eggs, fish, veggies) and then supplements with small amounts of D or sunbathes, then all should be good, but I tend to take the minimalist approach towards things.

 

[Wahmof10]

Interesting. So is Vitamin A ok or not?

 

[Hugh Johnson]

Interesting. So is Vitamin A ok or not?

Yes.

 

[Braveheart]

Definitely don't continue to take something that causes pain.

My train of thought is that in those with compromised liver with saturation of vitamin A stores, more vitamin A can cause issues. Perhaps your body is saturated and the excess A causes problems.

Liver causes the worst acne in me, but I'm unsure if that's because of my inability to properly digest meats or the vitamin A itself. I also get cysts from consuming ruminant meat. Could be the excess phosphate, methionine, cysteine, and iron that just do my body no good. I get joint pain from eating pasta, and I'm unsure if it's the excess phosphate or gluten. The mental well being I get from eating pasta every now and then far outweighs the temporary joint pain in my opinion.

I am contemplating with strict Vitamin D supplementation, and continuation of my normal diet, which includes plenty of vitamin A from cheese, OJ, and the occasional leafy greens.

Looking over the foods eaten in the Vitamin A deficiency diet, I can positively conclude that I would degenerate very quickly eating food like that. Beef, rice, strict restriction of veggies and coconut oil....I don't think I'd make it past day two before feeling very depressed and low energy. I think if one obtains vitamin A from normal food sources (dairy, eggs, fish, veggies) and then supplements with small amounts of D or sunbathes, then all should be good, but I tend to take the minimalist approach towards things.

"I tend to take the minimalist approach towards things."....
I believe it's the correct/healthy approach....

 

[somuch4food]

Interesting. So is Vitamin A ok or not?

It depends on context. I think one must use its own intuition to find what works for himself.

I am currently monitoring my symptoms in correlation with vitamin A/carotene to see if it fits. I think there might be people that have accumulated too much vitamin A in their body while others are fine with it. I also think the mother provides vitamin A to the child's liver during gestation. So, if your family has an history of high vitamin A intake you might be more prone to vitamin A toxicity. That's my current observation of myself and my toddler. Read about Grant Genereux if you are curious.

 

[mosaic01]

This is a human study and as you can see it used up to 500,000 IU vitamin A daily for months for acne treatment without any serious signs of toxicity. Most doctors will warn you that vitamin A will cause liver issues, but as you can see this was not the case here.

What do you call debilitating headaches, tiredness, nausea, difficulty in concentrating, inflamed and dry mucus membranes (Xerosis, Cheilitis), nose bleeds, increased liver enzymes and hair loss if not serious signs of toxicity?

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

"I tend to take the minimalist approach towards things."....
I believe it's the correct/healthy approach....

+1

 

[InChristAlone]

What do you call debilitating headaches, tiredness, nausea, difficulty in concentrating, inflamed and dry mucus membranes (Xerosis, Cheilitis), nose bleeds, increased liver enzymes and hair loss if not serious signs of toxicity?

View attachment 52078View attachment 52079View attachment 52080

Found someone who can corroborate the symptoms:

Interesting stuff. I had readily obvious signs of vitamin A poisoning after regularly eating liver some years back as part of a paleo diet, and years later I still can not eat liver without experiencing symptoms soon after. Even years before that I took Accutane, which is probably partially why I reached toxicity so quickly when eating liver regularly.

Dryness of hair skin and eyes, flaking skin, chapped lips, skin thinning, photo sensitivity, nose bleeds, general stiffness throughout the body. Never had D tested.