Did You Know Just That Many Cancers Are Linked To A Vitamin Deficiency?
Vitamin
A
Daily
Value: 5,000 international units
Good
Food Sources: Carrot juice, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots,
spinach, butternut squash, tuna, dandelion greens, cantaloupe,
mangoes, turnip greens, beet greens
Give 200,000 international units of vitamin A to a malnourished
child in Indonesia, Nepal, India or Ghana, and it could
save his life. Give 25,000 international units of beta-carotene,
a vitamin A precursor, to an adult every day, and it could
help prevent macular degeneration, which, after cataracts,
is the leading cause of blindness in people age 50 and older.
One study at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public
Health in Baltimore showed that between 9,000 and 20,000
international units of vitamin A, given daily to men infected
with HIV, may help slow the disease's progression to AIDS
by about 40 percent.
What
is this powerful substance? Actually, vitamin A is the generic
name given to a group of naturally occurring molecules called
retinoids. Study after study shows that your body uses these
retinoids, which are powerful compounds drawn from plant
and animal sources, to build or maintain an effective immune
system.
Without
an adequate amount of vitamin A, your body is vulnerable
to a whole host of infectious creatures that can cause anything
from measles to AIDS. Those who lack vitamin A on their
defense teams also face increased risk of cancer and blindness.
Symptoms
of a vitamin A deficiency include night blindness, difficulty
recovering vision (after looking into the headlights of
an oncoming car, for example), distorted color vision, dry
eyes, loss of appetite, poor taste and smell and difficulty
keeping your balance.
Fortunately,
most people in the United States get enough vitamin A from
their diets. Those most at risk are people who have cancer,
tuberculosis, pneumonia, chronic nephritis, urinary tract
infections or prostate disease, all of which may increase
the body's demands for vitamin A. People who have digestive
conditions that impair fat absorption--celiac disease and
cystic fibrosis are two examples--are also at risk.
Vitamin
A is a fat-soluble substance, which means that you should
eat a food that contains a small amount of fat when you
take it. You can get vitamin A directly from a supplement.
Or you can get it indirectly by eating fruits and vegetables
that are loaded with beta-carotene. Your body will turn
beta-carotene into the vitamin A it needs.
Many
doctors prefer the second route. There are two reasons:
One, foods contain hundreds of other substances that may
have healthful benefits; and two, although excessive amounts
of vitamin A are usually toxic, large amounts of beta-carotene
usually are not. There is one exception: Both vitamin A
and beta-carotene can damage the liver in someone who drinks
heavily.
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Using
Vitamin A Safely
For
centuries, Arctic adventurers, Eskimos and even sled dogs
have known that eating polar bear liver can make them sick.
The
reason? It's loaded with enough vitamin A to poison a full-grown
adult. A single meal consisting of a half-pound to one pound
of polar bear liver contains a whopping 3 million to 13
million international units of vitamin A, which is 6 to
26 times the amount needed to cause acute vitamin A poisoning.
Only
500,000 international units of vitamin A, taken over a short
period of time, can cause irritability, headaches, vomiting,
bone pain, weakness and blurred vision. Regular use of even
50,000 international units a day can cause hair loss, weakness,
headaches, enlarged liver and spleen, anemia, stiffness
and joint pain. And at least one death has been reported
from the regular use of 25,000 international units every
day.
Women
of childbearing age need to be particularly careful when
supplementing vitamin A. Daily doses of 10,000 international
units, an amount found in some The bottom line? In different
amounts and situations, vitamin A can be either a miraculous
healing agent or a malicious, toxic compound. It's a good
idea to consult your doctor before supplementing.
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