Vitamin A - Weston A. Price Foundation

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Vitamin A - Weston A. Price Foundation

http://www.westonaprice.org/nutrition_guidelines/vitaminasaga.html

KEY Excerpts from below article (full article follows)

* " The scientific term for vitamin A is retinol,

because of its presence in the retina of the eye "

* " Only animal fats contain vitamin A and

vitamin A is present in large amounts only when

the animals have a source of carotenes or vitamin

A in the diet, such as green pasture, insects and fish meal. "

* " Unfortunately, the vast majority of popular

books on nutrition insist that humans can obtain

vitamin A from fruits and vegetables "

* CAROTENES ARE NOT VITAMIN A

* " Under optimal conditions, humans can indeed

convert carotenes to vitamin A. "

* " But the transformation of carotene to retinol is rarely optimal. "

* " It is very unwise, therefore, to depend on plant sources for vitamin A. "

* " Vitamin A stores are rapidly depleted during

exercise, fever and periods of stress. Even

people who can efficiently convert carotenes to

vitamin A cannot quickly and adequately replenish

vitamin A stores from plant foods. "

* " In Third World communities that have come

into contact with the West, vitamin-A

deficiencies are widespread and contribute to

high infant mortality, blindness, stunting, bone

deformities and susceptibility to infection "

* " Children with measles rapidly use up vitamin

A, which can result in irreversible blindness. An

interval of three years between pregnancies

allows mothers to rebuild vitamin A stores so

that subsequent children will not suffer diminished vitality. "

* " Growing children actually benefit from a diet

that contains considerably more calories as fat

than as protein.12 A high-fat diet that is rich

in vitamin A will result in steady, even growth,

a sturdy physique and high immunity to illness "

* " The anti-vitamin-A campaign began in 1995

with the publication of a Boston University

School of Medicine study published in the New

England Journal of Medicine.15 " Teratogenicity of

High Vitamin A Intake, " by J. Rothman and his colleagues "

* " While scientists in America are creating

confusion and fear about vitamin A, WHO and

UNICEF vitamin-A-distribution programs in Africa

and Asia have been extremely successful in

reducing blindness and death among both children

and adults. Vitamin A is more cost effective in

saving lives and preventing suffering than

immunizations and drugs and it can be

administered with 2-cent capsules. The program

does not undermine traditional cultures or

foodways and is easily carried out on the village level. "

* In the 3rd World........

" Although the vitamin A distributed is synthetic

and not the natural form derived from fish oils,

it is the animal form of vitamin A (retinol), not

carotenes. Children six to twelve months old

receive two doses of 100,000 units per year;

children over 12 months receive two doses of

200,000 per year. According to Werner Schultink,

head of the Nutrition Section at UNICEF

headquarters in New York, infant and child

mortality drops about 23 percent when vitamin A

levels are adequate. The program in Nepal costs

just over $2 million per year, less than $1 per child (Reuter's 2/12/01). "

* SOURCES OF VITAMIN A

Listed below are approximate levels of vitamin A

in common foods, in IUs per 100 grams:

High-vitamin cod liver oil 230,000

Regular cod liver oil 100,000

Duck liver 40,000

Beef liver 35,000

Goose liver 31,000

Liverwurst sausage (pork) 28,000

Lamb liver 25,000

FULL ARTICLE BELOW - excellent - encourage you to print out

The Weston A. Price Foundation

Vitamin A Saga

By Sally Fallon and G. Enig, PhD

The discovery of vitamin A and the history of its

application in the field of human nutrition is a

story of bravery and brilliance, one that

represents a marriage of the best of scientific

inquiry with worldwide cultural traditions; and

the suborning of that knowledge to the dictates

of the food industry provides a sad lesson in the

use of power and influence to obfuscate the truth.

A key player in this fascinating story is Weston

A. Price, who discovered that the diets of

healthy traditional peoples contained at least

ten times as much vitamin A as the American diet

of his day. His work revealed that vitamin A is

one of several fat-soluble activators present

only in animal fats and necessary for the

assimilation of minerals in the diet. He noted

that the foods held sacred by the peoples he

studied, such as spring butter, fish eggs and

shark liver, were exceptionally rich in vitamin A.

All traditional cultures recognized that certain

foods were necessary to prevent blindness. In his

pioneering work, Nutrition and Physical

Degeneration, Weston Price tells the story of a

prospector who, while crossing a high plateau in

the Rocky Mountains, went blind with

xerophthalmia, due to a lack of vitamin A. As he

wept in despair, he was discovered by an Indian

who caught him a trout and fed him " the flesh of

the head and the tissues back of the eyes,

including the eyes. " 1 Within a few hours his

sight began to return and within two days his

eyes were nearly normal. Several years previous

to the travels of Weston Price, scientists had

discovered that the richest source of vitamin A

in the entire animal body is that of the retina

and the tissues in back of the eyes.

Many cultures used liver, another excellent

source of vitamin A, for various types of

blindness.2 The liver was first pressed to the

eye and then eaten, a ritual through which the

patient directed the healing powers of liver to

the afflicted sense organ. The Egyptians

described this cure at least 3500 years ago.

Similar practices have been described in

18th-century Russia, rural Java in 1978 and among

the inhabitants of Newfoundland in 1929. Other

cultures used the liver of shark. Hippocrates

(460-327 BC) prescribed liver soaked in honey for

blindness in malnourished children. Assyrian

texts dating from 700 BC and Chinese medical

writings from the 7th century AD both call for

the use of liver in the treatment of night

blindness. A 12th-century Hebrew treatise

recommends pressing goat liver to the eyes,

followed by eating of the liver. In the Middle

Ages, the Dutch physician van Laerlandt (1235-1299) wrote the following:

Who does not at night see right

Eats the liver of goat

He will then see better at night.

VITAMIN-A BRAVERY

Night blindness was a recurring problem among

sailors on long voyages but by the advent of the

great European navies, the wisdom of traditional

liver therapy was largely ignored. It took brave

dedication to the scientific method to confirm

the validity of the ancient treatments. The first

to do this was Eduard Schwarz (1831-1862), a

ship's doctor on an Austrian frigate that was

sent around the world on a scientific

exploration. Before his departure from Vienna,

several physicians had asked Schwartz to test the

old folk remedy of boiled ox liver against night

blindness. On the voyage, 75 of the 352 men

developed the condition. Every evening when dusk

came, they lost their vision and had to be led

about like the blind. Schwartz fed them ox or

pork liver and found that the night vision in all

of the afflicted was restored.

The cure was " a true miracle, " said Schwartz in

his published report, which stated emphatically

that night blindness was a nutritional disease.

For this he was viciously attacked by the medical

profession, which accused him of " frivolity " and

" self-aggrandizement. " Three years after his

return from the expedition, the discredited

physician died of TB. He was 31. The use of

vitamin-A-rich foods for tuberculosis had not yet been discovered.

In 1904, the Japanese physician M. Mori described

xerophthalmia in undernourished children whose

diet consisted of rice, barley, cereals " and

other vegetables. " Xerophthalmia is a condition

that progresses from night blindness to

dissolution of the cornea and finally the

bursting of the eye. He treated the children with

liver and also cod liver oil with excellent

results. In fact, he found that cod liver oil was

even more effective than liver in restoring

visual function. Mori described it as " an

excellent, almost specific medication. . .

Indeed, in most cases, the effect is so rapid

that by evening the children with night blindness

are already dancing around briskly, to the joy of

their mothers. " Cod liver oil also helped reverse

keratomalacia, a condition associated with severe

nutritional deficiencies and characterized by

corneal ulceration, extreme dryness of the eyes and infection.

At the end of the First World War, a physician

named Bloch discovered that a diet containing

whole milk, butter, eggs and cod liver oil cured

night blindness and keratomalacia. In one

important experiment, Bloch compared the results

when he fed one group of children whole milk and

the other margarine as the only fat. Half of the

margarine-fed children developed corneal problems

while the children receiving butterfat and cod liver oil remained healthy.

The actual discovery of vitamin A is credited to

a researcher named E. V. McCollum. He was curious

why cows fed wheat did not thrive, became blind

and gave birth to dead calves, while those fed

yellow corn had no health problems. The year was

1907 and by this time, scientists were able to

determine the levels of protein, carbohydrate,

fat and minerals in food. The wheat and corn used

in McCollum's experiments contained equal levels

of minerals and macronutrients. McCollum wondered

whether the wheat contained a toxic substance, or

whether there was something lacking in the wheat

that was present in yellow maize?

In order to solve the puzzle, McCollum hit upon

the idea of using small animals like mice or rats

rather than cows for nutrition experiments—they

ate less, took up less space, reproduced rapidly

and could be given controlled diets. Like many

good ideas, this one met with considerable

opposition. McCollum worked in the Wisconsin

College of Agriculture and was told by the dean

" to experiment with economically valuable

animals—the rat was a pest to farmers! " McCollum

was forced to work secretly in the basement of

the Agriculture Hall where he studied the effects

of various diets on colonies of rats. He

discovered that rats fed pure protein, pure skim

milk, sugar, minerals and lard or olive oil for

fat failed to grow. When he added butterfat or an

extract of egg yolk to their diets, their health

was restored. He discovered a fat-soluble factor

in certain foods that was essential for growth

and survival. This was named " fat-soluble factor

A " as opposed to other accessory dietary factors, called " water-soluble B. "

Research by Osbourne and Mendel, published just

five months after McCollum's study, found that

cod liver oil produced the same results as butter

in rat studies, thus confirming the early work of

Mori in Japan. Continued experiments helped

scientists determine that vitamin A was

colorless, but often associated in foods with

beta-carotene, which was yellow. In the 1930s,

researchers discovered that vitamin A is formed

by the conversion of beta-carotenes in the

intestinal mucosa of animals and humans.

The scientific term for vitamin A is retinol,

because of its presence in the retina of the eye.

The role of retinol in vision was elucidated by a

number of brilliant scientists, beginning in 1877

with a German, W. Kuhne, who discovered that the

purple retinas from dark-adapted frogs turned

yellow when exposed to light. The purple color is

restored in a complex biochemical cycle involving

vitamin A, which makes vision possible. Other

scientists demonstrated the role of vitamin A in

cell differentiation, bone development,

reproduction and immune system function. Weston

Price confirmed the value of vitamin A in

traditional diets during his studies of primitive

peoples carried out during the 1930s and 1940s.

Due to the outstanding scientific work of these

and many other researchers, the administration of

cod liver oil to growing children—a tradition

found among Arctic peoples such as the

Scandanivians and Eskimos—became standard

practice until after the Second World War.

Ironically, as Americans have stopped giving cod

liver oil to their children, programs to

administer vitamin A to children in Africa and

Asia have had astonishing success in preventing

blindness and infectious disease. This

vitamin-A-treatment program was the brainchild of

yet another brave researcher, Alfred Sommer, an

ophthalmologist at s Hopkins University, who

patiently lobbied for an international program

after observing the wonderful effects of

vitamin-A supplementation in Indonesia and Nepal.

In recent decades, much vitamin-A research has

focussed on its role in preventing cancer, and

its use in combination with nontoxic therapies in

the treatment of cancer. Unfortunately, research

on the anticarcinogenic properties of vitamin A

has not been widely adopted. Perhaps the most

tragic example is Dr. Max Gerson, who treated

many cases of terminal cancer with excellent

results using raw liver juice, a rich source of

vitamin A. In 1946, he testified before a US

congressional committee on the success of his

treatment, but it was subsequently ignored.3 In

1973, Dr. Kanematsu Sigiura of the Sloan

Kettering Institute published the results of

studies on mammary tumors in mice using high

doses of vitamin A and a derivative of seeds

called laetrile. He observed complete regression

of all the tumors in a total of five mice. The

final report noted that " Dr. Sigiura has never

observed complete regression of these tumors in

all his cosmic experience with other

chemotherapeutic agents. " Nevertheless, just a

few months later, spokesmen for Sloan Kettering

flatly denied that there was any value in the therapy.4

VITAMIN-A VAGARY

While the ongoing process of research into

vitamin A and its effects is a boon to children

and adults throughout the world, modern

agriculture and food processing conglomerates

gain nothing from this knowledge. Confinement

farming practices effectively prevent vitamin A

from incorporation into animal foods and the

processing industry would rather use vegetable

oils than animal fats. Some vegetable oils

contain carotenes but they do not contain true

vitamin A. Only animal fats contain vitamin A and

vitamin A is present in large amounts only when

the animals have a source of carotenes or vitamin

A in the diet, such as green pasture, insects and fish meal.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of popular books

on nutrition insist that humans can obtain

vitamin A from fruits and vegetables. Even worse,

FDA regulations allow food processors to label

carotenes as vitamin A. The label for a can of

tomatoes says that tomatoes contain vitamin A,

even though the only source of true vitamin A in

the tomatoes is the microscopic insect parts. The

food industry, and the lowfat school of nutrition

that the industry has spawned, benefit greatly

from the fact that the public has only vague

notions about vitamin A. In fact, most of the

foods that provide large amounts of vitamin

A—butter, egg yolks, liver, organ meats and

shellfish—have been subject to intense demonization.

Under optimal conditions, humans can indeed

convert carotenes to vitamin A. This occurs in

the upper intestinal tract by the action of bile

salts and fat-splitting enzymes. Of the entire

family of carotenes, beta-carotene is most easily

converted to vitamin A. Early studies indicated

an equivalency of 4:1 of beta-carotene to

retinol. In other words, four units of

beta-carotene were needed to produce one unit of

vitamin A. This ratio was later revised to 6:1

and recent research suggests an even higher

ratio.5 This means that you have to eat an awful

lot of vegetables and fruits to obtain even the

daily minimal requirements of vitamin A, assuming optimal conversion.

But the transformation of carotene to retinol is

rarely optimal. Diabetics and those with poor

thyroid function, a group that could well include

at least half the adult US population, cannot

make the conversion. Children make the conversion

very poorly and infants not at all — they must

obtain their precious stores of vitamin A from

animal fats6— yet the low-fat diet is often

recommended for children. Strenuous physical

exercise, excessive consumption of alcohol,

excessive consumption of iron (especially from

" fortified " white flour and breakfast cereal),

use of a number of popular drugs, excessive

consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids, zinc

deficiency and even cold weather can hinder the

conversion of carotenes to vitamin A,7 as does the lowfat diet.

Carotenes are converted by the action of bile

salts, and very little bile reaches the intestine

when a meal is low in fat. The epicure who puts

butter on his vegetables and adds cream to his

vegetable soup is wiser than he knows. Butterfat

stimulates the secretion of bile needed to

convert carotenes from vegetables into vitamin A,

and at the same time supplies very easily

absorbed true vitamin A. Polyunsaturated oils

also stimulate the secretion of bile salts but

can cause rapid destruction of carotene unless antioxidants are present.

It is very unwise, therefore, to depend on plant

sources for vitamin A. This vital nutrient is

needed for the growth and repair of body tissues;

it helps protect mucous membranes of the mouth,

nose, throat and lungs; it prompts the secretion

of gastric juices necessary for proper digestion

of protein; it helps to build strong bones and

teeth and rich blood; it is essential for good

eyesight; it aids in the production of RNA; and

contributes to the health of the immune system.

Vitamin-A deficiency in pregnant mothers results

in offspring with eye defects, displaced kidneys,

harelip, cleft palate and abnormalities of the

heart and larger blood vessels. Vitamin A stores

are rapidly depleted during exercise, fever and

periods of stress. Even people who can

efficiently convert carotenes to vitamin A cannot

quickly and adequately replenish vitamin A stores from plant foods.

Foods high in vitamin A are especially important

for diabetics and those suffering from thyroid

conditions. In fact, the thyroid gland requires

more vitamin A than the other glands, and cannot

function without it.8 And a diet rich in vitamin

A will help protect the diabetic from the

degenerative conditions associated with the

disease, such as problems with the retina and with healing.

Weston Price considered the fat-soluble vitamins,

especially vitamin A, to be the catalysts on

which all other biological processes depend.9

Efficient mineral uptake and utilization of

water-soluble vitamins require sufficient vitamin

A in the diet. His research demonstrated that

generous amounts of vitamin A insure healthy

reproduction and offspring with attractive wide

faces, straight teeth and strong sturdy bodies.

He discovered that healthy primitives especially

value vitamin-A-rich foods for growing children

and pregnant mothers. The tenfold disparity that

Price discovered between primitive diets and the

American diet in the 1940s is almost certainly

greater today as Americans have forsworn butter

and cod liver oil for empty, processed polyunsaturates.

In Third World communities that have come into

contact with the West, vitamin-A deficiencies are

widespread and contribute to high infant

mortality, blindness, stunting, bone deformities

and susceptibility to infection.10 These occur

even in communities that have access to plentiful

carotenes in vegetables and fruits. Scarcity of

good quality dairy products, a rejection of organ

meats as old fashioned or unhealthful, and a

substitution of vegetable oil for animal fat in

cooking all contribute to the physical

degeneration and suffering of Third World peoples.

Supplies of vitamin A are so vital to the human

organism that mankind is able to store large

quantities of it in the liver and other organs.

Thus it is possible for an adult to subsist on a

fat-free diet for a considerable period of time

before overt symptoms of deficiency appear. But

during times of stress, vitamin A stores are

rapidly depleted. Strenuous physical exercise,

periods of physical growth, pregnancy, lactation

and infection are stresses that quickly deplete

vitamin A stores. Children with measles rapidly

use up vitamin A, which can result in

irreversible blindness. An interval of three

years between pregnancies allows mothers to

rebuild vitamin A stores so that subsequent

children will not suffer diminished vitality.

One aspect of vitamin A that deserves more

emphasis is its role in protein utilization.

Kwashiorkor is as much a disease of vitamin-A

deficiency, leading to impaired protein

absorption, as it is a result of absence of

protein in the diet. High-protein, lowfat diets

are especially dangerous because protein

consumption rapidly depletes vitamin-A stores.

Children brought up on high-protein, lowfat diets

often experience rapid growth. The results—tall,

myopic, lanky individuals with crowded teeth, and

poor bone structure, a kind of Ichabod Crane

syndrome—are a fixture in America. High-protein,

lowfat diets can even cause blindness as occurred

once in Guatemala where huge amounts of instant

nonfat dry milk were donated in a food relief

program.11 The people who consumed the dried milk

went blind. Primitive peoples understood this

principle instinctively, which is why they never

ate lean meat and always consumed the organ meats

of the animals that served them for food.

Growing children actually benefit from a diet

that contains considerably more calories as fat

than as protein.12 A high-fat diet that is rich

in vitamin A will result in steady, even growth,

a sturdy physique and high immunity to illness.

The great discrepancy between what science has

discovered about vitamin A and what nutrition

writers promote in the popular press contributes

to awkward moments. The New York Times has been a

strong advocate for lowfat diets, even for

children, yet a recent NYT article noted that

vitamin-A-rich foods like liver, egg yolk, cream

and shellfish confer resistance to infectious

diseases in children and prevent cancer in

adults.13 A Washington Post article hailed

vitamin A as " cheap and effective, with wonders

still being (re)discovered, " noting that recent

studies have found that vitamin-A supplements

help prevent infant mortality in Third World

countries, protect measles victims from severe

complications and prevent mother-to-child

transmission of HIV virus.14 The article lists

butter, egg yolk and liver as important sources

of vitamin A, but claims, unfortunately, that

carotenes from vegetables are " equally important. "

Vitamin-A vagary confuses the public and

contributes to continued acceptance of lowfat

dogma, even among science writers.

VITAMIN -A KNAVERY

Even worse than vitamin-A vagary is vitamin-A

knavery in the form of concerns that vitamin A

may be toxic in more than the minuscule

RDA-recommended amounts. In fact, so great is the

propaganda against the vitamin that obstetricians

and pediatricians are now warning patients to

avoid foods containing vitamin A!

Recently an " expert " panel recommended lowering

the RDA (recommended daily allowance) for vitamin

A from 5000 IU daily to about 2500 IU and has set

an upper limit of about 10,000 IUs for women. The

panel was headed by Dr. of Tufts

University, who warned that intake over the

" upper limit " may cause irreversible liver damage

and birth defects—a ridiculous statement in view

of the fact that just a few decades ago pregnant

women were routinely advised to take cod liver

oil daily and eat liver several times per week.

One tablespoon of cod liver oil contains at least

15,000 IU and one serving of liver can contain up

to 40,000 IU vitamin A. epitomizes the

establishment view when he insists that vitamin-A

requirements can be met with one-half cup of carrots daily.

The anti-vitamin-A campaign began in 1995 with

the publication of a Boston University School of

Medicine study published in the New England

Journal of Medicine.15 " Teratogenicity of High

Vitamin A Intake, " by J. Rothman and his

colleagues, correlates vitamin-A consumption

among more than 22,000 pregnant women with birth

defects occurring in subsequent offspring. The

study received extensive press coverage in the

same publications that had earlier extolled the

benefits of vitamin A. " Study Links Excess

Vitamin A and Birth Defects " by Jane Brody

appeared on the front page of the New York Times

on October 7, 1995; on November 24, 1995, the

Washington Times reported: " High doses of vitamin

A linked to babies' brain defects. "

When a single study receives front-page coverage,

it's important to take a closer look, especially

as earlier research discovered the importance of

vitamin A in preventing birth defects. In fact,

the defects listed as increasing with increased

vitamin A dosage—cleft lip, cleft palate,

hydrocephalus and major heart malformations—are

also defects of vitamin A deficiency.

In the study, researchers asked over 22,000 women

to respond to questionnaires about their eating

habits and supplement intake before and during

pregnancy. Their responses were used to determine

vitamin-A status. As reported in the newspapers,

researchers found that cranial-neural-crest

defects increased with increased dosages of

vitamin A; what the papers did not report was the

fact that neural tube defects decreased with

increased vitamin A consumption, and that no

trend was apparent with musculoskeletal,

urogenital or other defects. The trend was much

less pronounced, and less statistically

significant, when cranial-neural-crest defects

were correlated with vitamin-A consumption from food alone.

The study is compromised by a number of flaws.

Vitamin-A status was assessed by the inaccurate

method of recall and questionnaires; and no blood

tests were taken to determine the actual usable

vitamin-A status of the mothers. Researchers did

not weight birth defects according to severity;

thus we do not know whether the defects of babies

born to mothers taking high doses of vitamin A

were serious or minor compared to those of mothers taking lower amounts.

The most serious flaw was that researchers failed

to distinguish between manufactured vitamin A in

the form of retinol, found in supplements and

added to fabricated foods, from natural vitamin-A

complex, present with numerous co-factors, from

vitamin-A-containing foods. It is well known that

synthetic vitamins are less biologically active,

hence less effective, than naturally occurring

vitamins. This is especially true of the

fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin A, because

these tend to be more complex molecules, with

numerous double bonds and a multiplicity of

forms. Natural vitamin A occurs as a mixture of

various isomers, aldehydes, esters, acids and

alcohols. Pure retinoic acid, a metabolite of

vitamin A used to treat adult acne, is well known

to cause birth defects. Apparently pure retinol

has teratogenic properties in high amounts as well.

Researchers found that cranial-neural-crest

defects increased in proportion to the amount of

retinol from supplements consumed during the

first trimester of pregnancy (although the total

number of defects remained stable up to 15,000 IU

daily). Research into vitamin A has indicated

that many factors interfere with its absorption

and utilization. Inadequate fat in the diet, poor

production of bile salts, low enzyme status, and

compromised liver function can all interfere with

the uptake and usage of vitamin A, especially

when given as a supplement in the form of

retinol, rather than as a component of whole

foods. It may be that the teratogenic effects of

commercial vitamin-A preparations are exacerbated

in women whose dietary practices and general

health status are poor. Some researchers believe

that synthetic vitamin A interferes with the

proper utilization of natural vitamin A from foods.

Pure retinol is added to many fabricated foods

like margarine, breakfast cereals and pizza. The

study made no distinction between those women

whose vitamin A was supplied by whole animal

foods and those who ingested retinol added to

margarine, white flour and extruded breakfast

cereals—foods which contain many other factors

that can cause birth defects. Natural vitamin A

provided by liver, eggs, butter, cream and cod

liver oil is well recognized as providing

excellent protection against birth defects.

Distinctions between synthetic and natural

vitamin A have been absent in the extensive media

coverage of this study—on the contrary, the

newspaper reports contain implied warnings

against pregnant women eating liver, dairy

products, meat and eggs, but none against eating

fabricated foods like margarine and breakfast

cereals to which synthetic vitamin A is added.

And there has been no media coverage for

subsequent studies, which found that high levels

of vitamin A did not increase the risk of birth

defects. A study carried out in Rome, Italy found

no congenital malformations among 120 infants

exposed to more than 50,000 IU of vitamin A per

day.16 A study from Switzerland looked at blood

levels of vitamin A in pregnant women and found

that a dose of 30,000 IU per day resulted in

blood levels that had no association with birth defects.17

VITAMIN-A SLAVERY

While scientists in America are creating

confusion and fear about vitamin A, WHO and

UNICEF vitamin-A-distribution programs in Africa

and Asia have been extremely successful in

reducing blindness and death among both children

and adults. Vitamin A is more cost effective in

saving lives and preventing suffering than

immunizations and drugs and it can be

administered with 2-cent capsules. The program

does not undermine traditional cultures or

foodways and is easily carried out on the village level.

But this kind of success doesn't sit well with

the food and pharmaceutical industries because it

strengthens village life and lessens the market

for drugs and processed foods. Fulsome with

praise, the " big guns of the international food

supply system " have joined in a " public-private

partnership " to get in on the program.18 Kellogg,

Cargill, Monsanto and Procter & Gamble have

pioneered the addition of vitamin A to margarine,

vegetable oil, wheat flour, sugar and breakfast

cereals—even to MSG! At a formal luncheon hosted

by Hillary Clinton, the corporate executives and

leaders of various relief groups announced their

goal of showing " indigenous food companies. . .

how to add vitamin A to foods that low-income

people eat. " In other words, vitamin A will be

used to promote processed foods to villagers in

Africa and Asia in the guise of humanitarian

relief. Low income people in America eat

margarine and other processed foods, but

low-income people in the Third World eat foods

grown by farmers and processed locally by artisans.

And when people refuse to eat processed foods,

the " big guns " have devised another

stratagem—genetically engineering rice to produce

carotenes. Those who promote the so-called

" golden " rice as a solution to the vitamin-A

problem are either woefully ignorant or

unabashedly corrupt. Golden rice containing

carotenes can't provide true vitamin A to the

world's children but it will further the trend of

pushing their parents off the farm and into ghastly slums.

In the process of showing " indigenous food

companies. . . how to add vitamin A to foods. .

.. " and of inserting genes for producing carotenes

into rice, the multinational corporations will

strengthen their grip on the world's food supply,

leading to a disruption of village life and what

Indian writer Vandana Shiva calls " food

dictatorship. " If the conglomerates have their

way, programs to promote golden rice and

" enriched " processed foods will replace programs

to distribute vitamin-A capsules, increasing the

suffering of children and worldwide economic slavery.

What can we in the west do to foil the nefarious

plans of the food-and-pharmaceutical-complex in

nations less prosperous than our own? The answer

is simple: cut off their funding at the source by

refusing to spend money on their products.

Boycott processed foods; avoid pharmaceutical

drugs. The better way to physical and economic

health is through foods containing vitamin A.

Note: Your donations can help support the

campaign to provide vitamin A capsules to

children in Africa and Asia. For details see www.the childsurvivalsite.com.

REFERENCES

WA Price. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.

Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, San Diego, CA, p 280.

The history outlined here has been expertly

compiled by G Wolf. " A History of Vitamin A and

Retinoids. " The FASEB Journal, July 1996, 10:1102-1107.

M Gerson, MD. A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty

Cases. Totality Books, Del Mar, CA, 1958.

GE . World Without Cancer. American Media,

Westlake Village, CA, 1974, pp 462-3.

NW s, J Bulus. " Plant sources of

provitamin A and human nutriture. " Nutrition

Review, Springer Verlag New York, Inc, July 1993, 51:1992-4.

IW Jennings. Vitamins in Endocrine Metabolism.

C. Publisher, Springfield, Illinois.

LJ Dunne. Nutrition Almanac, Third Edition,

McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1990.

Jennings, Op Cit.

WA Price. Op Cit.

s, Op Cit.

Personal Communication, Ruth Rosevear

Protein calories should comprise about 15 percent

of the diet. Fat calories in children's diets

should be greater than 40 percent of total calories.

Angler. " Vitamins Win Support as Potent

Agents of Health, " New York Times, March 10, 1992.

Brown. " It's Cheap and Effective, With

Wonders Still Being (Re)discovered. " The Washington Post, November 7,1994.

KJ Rothman and others. " Teratogenicity of high

vitamin A intake. " New England Journal of

Medicine. November 23, 1995 333(21):1414-5.

P Mastroiacovo and others. " High vitamin A intake

in early pregnancy and major malformations: a

multicenter prospective controlled study. " Teratology. January 1999 59(1):1-2.

UW Wiegand and others. " Safety of vitamin A:

recent results. " International Journal of Vitamin

and Nutrition Research. 1998, 68(6):411-6.

J Mann. " Saving Young Lives With a 2-Cent

Capsule. " The Washington Post, March 17, 1999.

Sidebar Articles

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THE SUCCESS OF VITAMIN A

One of the most successful programs in the

history of nutrition science is the global

campaign to distribute high-dose vitamin-A

capsules to children throughout Africa and Asia.

Launched in 1997, the global campaign is a

partnership between UNICEF and the World Health

Organization (WHO) as well as the governments of

Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands,

Japan and the United States Agency for

International Development (USAID). The program

has been particularly successful in Nepal where

groups of local women known as Female Community

Health Volunteers help distribute the capsules

throughout the rugged terrain. In 2000, over 90

percent of Nepalese children had received their yearly dosage of vitamin A.

Although the vitamin A distributed is synthetic

and not the natural form derived from fish oils,

it is the animal form of vitamin A (retinol), not

carotenes. Children six to twelve months old

receive two doses of 100,000 units per year;

children over 12 months receive two doses of

200,000 per year. According to Werner Schultink,

head of the Nutrition Section at UNICEF

headquarters in New York, infant and child

mortality drops about 23 percent when vitamin A

levels are adequate. The program in Nepal costs

just over $2 million per year, less than $1 per child (Reuter's 2/12/01).

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CONVERSION OF CAROTENES TO VITAMIN A

The many conditions that interfere with the

conversion of carotenes in plant foods to vitamin A include:

Being an infant or child

Diabetes

Low Thyroid Function

Low Fat Intake

Intestinal Roundworms

Diarrhea

Pancreatic Disease

Celiac Disease

Sprue

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THE MYTH OF VITAMIN A TOXICITY

Typical of the orthodox medical view of vitamin A

is the following statement, posted at WebMD.com:

" Vitamin A can be very toxic when taken in

high-dose supplements for long periods of time

and can affect almost every part of the body,

including eyes, bones, blood, skin, central

nervous system, liver, and genital and urinary

tracts. Symptoms include dizziness, nausea,

vomiting, headache, skin damage, mental

disturbances and, in women, infrequent periods.

Severe toxicity can cause blindness and may even

be life-threatening. Liver damage can occur in

children who take RDA-approved adult levels over

prolonged periods of time or in adults who take

as little as five times the RDA-approved amount

for seven to ten years. In children, chronic

overdose can cause fluid on the brain and other

symptoms similar to those in adults. Pregnant

women who take amounts not much higher than RDA

levels increase the risk for birth defects in

their children. High consumption of vitamin A may

also increase the risk of gastric cancer and the

risk of osteoporosis and fractures in women. "

The Merck Manual describes vitamin-A toxicity in

less hysterical terms. Acute vitamin-A poisoning

can occur in children after taking a single dose

of synthetic vitamin A in the range of 300,000 IU

or a daily dosage of 60,000 IU for a few weeks.

Two fatalities have been reported from acute

vitamin-A poisoning in children, which manifests

as increased intracranial pressure and vomiting.

For the vast majority, however, recovery after

discontinuation is " spontaneous, with no residual damage. "

In adults, according to the Merck Manual,

vitamin-A toxicity has been reported in arctic

explorers who developed drowsiness, irritability,

headaches and vomiting, with subsequent peeling

of the skin, within a few hours of ingesting

several million units of vitamin A from polar

bear or seal liver. Again, these symptoms cleared

up with discontinuation of the vitamin-A rich

food. Other than this unusual example, however,

only vitamin-A from " megavitamin tablets

containing vitamin A. . . when taken for a long

time " has induced acute toxicity, that is,

100,000 IU synthetic vitamin-A per day taken for many months.

Unless you are an arctic explorer, it is

virtually impossible to develop vitamin-A

toxicity from food. The putative toxic dose of

100,000 IU per day would be contained in 3

tablespoons of high vitamin cod liver oil, 6

tablespoons of regular cod liver oil,

two-and-one-half 100-gram servings of duck liver,

about three 100-gram servings of beef liver,

seven pounds of butter or 309 egg yolks. Even

synthetic vitamin A is not toxic when given as a

single large dose or in small amounts on a daily

basis. Children in impoverished areas of the

world are routinely given two 100,000-unit doses

of retinol per year for infants and two

200,000-unit doses for children over 12 months.

The tragedy is that misplaced concern about

vitamin-A toxicity has led doctors to advise

pregnant women to avoid foods containing vitamin

A, and parents to avoid giving cod liver oil to

their babies. Yet the early books on the feeding

of pregnant women and infants recommended

generous doses of cod liver oil and frequent

liver consumption for pregnant women and two

teaspoons of cod liver oil per day for babies

three months and older. A majority of our medical

problems would clear up very quickly if the

populace would return to eating liver and embrace

the use of cod liver oil—our finest superfoods.

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GETTING IT WRONG

" Vitamin A can be found in fish liver oils,

animal livers and green and yellow fruits and

vegetables. " —Prescription for Nutritional

Healing by F. Balch, MD and Phillis A.

Balch, CNC. (However, the authors include the

following warning at the end of their section on

vitamin A: " Diabetics should avoid beta-carotene

as should hypothyroid individuals, because they

cannot convert beta-carotene to vitamin A. " )

" Cod liver oil used to be taken routinely as a

source of vitamin A. But many experts now believe

that as a nutritional aid, the oil is obsolete.

We can only consume vitamin A directly in the

meat of animals—liver is the richest source. But

bright orange fruits and vegetables and dark,

leafy greens contain beta-carotene which our

bodies convert into the vitamin. . . Before the

days of refrigerated trucks and mass distribution

of produce, vitamin A deficiency was an enormous

problem. . . . But today most people have access

to a wide range of produce year-round. What's

more, beta-carotene supplements are also widely

available. " —Article on WebMD.com by Cullen, RD, PhD

" Vitamin A is found in animal produce and

beta-carotene, a vitamin-A-type compound. It is

found in the yellow pigments of vegetables. . .

If it is not needed, it remains as beta-carotene;

if needed, it is converted into vitamin A. . .

vitamin A supplements [are] not

necessary. " —Enhancing Fertility Naturally by Nicky Wesson

" Vitamin A is found in the form of betacarotene

in leafy green vegetables, carrots, sweet

potatoes, winter squash and cantelope in adequate

amounts to supply a child's daily needs. . . "

—Dr. Attwood's Low-Fat Prescription for Kids by Dr. R. Attwood

" Vitamin A's toxicity depends on its form. Only

retinol and the other varieties found in animal

foods are capable of doing much harm.

Carotenoids, the vegetable sources of vitamin A,

don't seem to be toxic even when extraordinarily

large amounts are consumed. " —The University of

California San Diego Nutrition Book by

Saltman, PhD, Gurin and Ira Mothner

" The carotenes. . . are the main source of

vitamin A. " Basic Food Chemistry by E. Lee,

PhD " Yellow, deep orange/red and dark green

vegetables and fruits. . . are high in vitamin A.

.. . " —The Breast Cancer Survival Manual by Link, MD

" Vitamin A taken too enthusiastically can be

toxic, since it is stored in the liver.

Beta-carotene, however, is not converted into

vitamin A unless the body requires it, and you

cannot suffer from toxic levels of it. " —The

Endometriosis Answer Book by Niels H Lauersen and Constance deSwaan

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VITAMIN A—THE MIRACLE NUTRIENT

Vitamin A supplementation of children in Asia and

Africa has been extremely effective in reducing

the rates of infection, diarrhea, anemia and

blindness (Reuter's 2/12/01). African and Asian

children receiving vitamin-A supplements grow

faster, have better hemoglobin values and die

30-60 percent less frequently than

nonsupplemented peers (J Nutr Jan 1989 119(1):96-100).

Vitamin A supplementation can reduce the

incidence of malaria. Children in Papua New

Guinea given high doses of vitamin A had a 30

percent lower incidence of malaria than those

receiving a placebo (The Lancet, 1999, 354:203-9).

Vitamin A plays a vital regulating role in the

immune system. Vitamin A deficiency leads to a

loss of ciliated cells in the lung, an important

first line defense against pathogens. Vitamin A

promotes mucin secretion and microvilli formation

by mucosa, including the gastrointestinal tract

mucosa. Vitamin A regulates T-cell production and

apoptosis (programmed cell death) (Nutrition Reviews 1998;56:S38-S48).

HIV transmission is closely correlated with

levels of vitamin A in mothers. A study in

Malawi, Africa found that mothers with the

highest levels of vitamin A had an HIV

transmission rate of just 7.2 percent (Celia

Farber, " A Timely Firestorm, " www.ironminds.com).

Treatment with megadoses of vitamin A (100,000 IU

per day) resulted in a 92 percent cure rate of

menorrhagia (excessive menstrual bleeding) at

Johannesburg General Hospital in South Africa (S Afr Med J 1977).

Lack of vitamin A interferes with optimal

function of the hippocampus, the main seat of

learning. Scientists at the Salk Institute for

Biological Studies in San Diego, California,

found that removing vitamin A from the diets of

mice diminished chemical changes in the brain

considered the hallmarks of learning and memory

(Proc Natl Acad Sci, Sep 25, 2001 98(20):11714-9).

Natural vitamin A helps reconnect retinoid

receptors critical for vision, sensory

perception, language processing and attention in

autistic children. Use of cod liver oil helps

children recover from autism due to the DPT

vaccine. The pertussis toxin interferes with

retinoid receptors in the brain (Med Hypothesis, Jun 2000 54(6):979-83).

Vitamin A can be helpful in the treatment of

psoriasis. Researchers found that patients

suffering from severe psoriasis had low blood

levels of vitamin A (Acta Derm Venereol Jul 1994 74(4):298-301).

In stroke victims, those with high levels of

vitamin A are more likely to recover without

damage (The Lancet, Mar 25, 1998, pp 47-50).

Vitamin A protects against lung and bladder

cancers in men (Alt Cancer Inst Monogr Dec 1985

69:137-42). Fourteen out of 20 patients with

prostate cancer achieved total remission and five

achieved partial remission using vitamin A as

part of a natural cancer therapy in Germany

(Drugs Exp Clin Res 2000;26(65-6):249-52).

Vitamin A was used successfully by Dr. L. J. A.

Loewenthal, to combat tropical ulcers in Uganda

(S Afr Med J Dec 24 1983 64(27):1064-7).

Vitamin A has also been used successfully to

treat a skin condition called Kyrle's disease

(Cutis Dec 1982 30(6):753-5, 759). Elderly

persons who consume adequate vitamin A are less

prone to leg ulcers (Veris Newsletter Dec 1999;15(4):5).

Chronic vitamin-A deficiency causes degeneration

of the structures of the ear. Decreased auditory

function in humans is associated with low

vitamin-A levels. (Arch Otorhinolaryngol 1982;234(2):167-73).

Vitamin A inhibits the effects of phytic acid and

increases absorption of iron from whole wheat.

(Arch Latinoam Nutr Sep 2000;50(3):243-8).

Vitamin A supplementation increases absorption of

iron and folic acid in women in Bangladesh (Am J

Clin Nutr Jul 2001;74(1):108-15).

Use of vitamin A supplements reduces the risk of

cataracts (Am J Ophthalmol Jul 2001;132(1):19-26).

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SOURCES OF VITAMIN A

Listed below are approximate levels of vitamin A

in common foods, in IUs per 100 grams:

High-vitamin cod liver oil 230,000

Regular cod liver oil 100,000

Duck liver 40,000

Beef liver 35,000

Goose liver 31,000

Liverwurst sausage (pork) 28,000

Lamb liver 25,000

It should be noted that these amounts can vary

according to how the animals are fed. Weston

Price noted a huge variation in vitamin-A content

of butter according to the season. In addition,

absorption of vitamin A varies according to the

food. Research carried out during the 1940s

indicates that vitamin A is more easily absorbed

from butter than from other foods.

The US Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamin A

is currently 5,000 IU per day (and may possibly

be lowered to 2500 IU per day). From the work of

Weston Price, we can assume that the amount in

primitive diets was about 50,000 IU per day,

which could be achieved in a modern diet by

consuming generous amounts of whole milk, cream,

butter and eggs from pastured animals; beef or

duck liver several times per week; and 1

tablespoon regular cod liver oil or 1/2

tablespoon high-vitamin cod liver oil per day.

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ARE CAROTENES SAFE?

Are carotenes safe in large doses, as claimed?

Dependence on carotenes for vitamin A calls on

large reserves of enzymes to make the conversion.

In their fascinating book Nutrition and

Evolution, Crawford and Marsh note

that in animals, " if any function can be

delegated to another organism it leaves the disk

space free to perform some new function or to

perform an old one better. " The cat species does

not synthesize vitamin A from carotenes. " If they

had to synthesize their own vitamin A . . . it

would take up a significant amount of their disk

space. " Cats get vitamin A from their prey, whose

ability to synthesize vitamin A from carotenes

compromises other functions, such as night vision

and quickness of movement. While medical

orthodoxy claims that consumption of large

amounts of carotenes has no downside, it is

possible that dependence on carotenes for vitamin

A, even in those who are good converters,

compromises other biochemical functions in subtle ways.

The so-called nontoxic betacarotene supplements

contain a synthetic form of carotene, just one of

50 or 60 carotenes found in the typical diet. The

biological activity of synthetic betacarotene is

much lower than that of the natural complexes of

carotenes and, in fact, may put stress on the

immune system Studies with humans and rats given

synthetic betacarotene found an increase in white

blood cells. In cancer trials, synthetic

betacarotenes were not found to be protective. In

fact, in one study, patients given synthetic

betacarotene had worse results than controls

(NEJM April 1994 330:(15);891-895).

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