This is Why I NEVER Take Vitamin A Supplements

I'd like to discuss some very important aspects of vitamin a , not just the positive benefits , but the dark side as well .

Vitamin a is typically known as the non keratinizing vitamin .

Now what does that mean ?

Keratinization is a condition that causes skin issues .

So if you have an overgrowth of keratin , it's not gonna be at the right moisture .

It's gonna be kind of dry .

And so this is one reason why if you have a deficiency of vitamin a or even an excess , it can really affect your skin in many ways .

On the flip side of that , vitamin a is also , involved in the epithelial layer of the skin .

That is the outermost layer of your inner skin that is lining your body .

And so vitamin a has a lot to do with controlling what that skin turns into .

Is it gonna be normal skin cells or abnormal skin cells ?

And when we're talking about the inside of the body too , we're talking about the maintenance of the inner skin .

Your inner sinuses , the esophagus , the digestive system .

And so this is why vitamin a is important for the immune system .

Because the skin , both external and internal , is one of the immune barriers .

And so if you're deficient in vitamin a , you can actually weaken that barrier , allow pathogens to crossover .

Vitamin a is also , involved in the immune system , specifically the what's called the T regulatory cells .

And that has a lot to do with whether a person can develop an autoimmune disease or not .

And so there's this association also with a vitamin a deficiency and an autoimmune problem with the thyroid , either Graves or Hashimoto's .

And so if someone's deficient , it could increase the risk for either one of those .

And also vitamin a allows iodine to be absorbed .

So there's an iodine relationship between vitamin a as well .

And typically , if you're deficient vitamin a , you're gonna have problems with night vision .

If you're severely deficient , you may even go blind .

Other symptoms could include dry eyes , a poor immune system , skin problems , and even bone issues .

So if a child has a deficiency of vitamin a , they can have all sorts of just abnormal bone , development .

Also on the flip side , too much of vitamin a can create symptoms that mimic a deficiency of vitamin a .

Abnormal bone formations , dry lips , dry skin , double vision , alopecia , oily skin , peeling skin , heart valve calcification , which could be a big problem , hypercalcemia , too much calcium in the blood .

Normally , too much vitamin d will do that , but vitamin a is also involved .

Another one is intracranial pressure .

So you have this headache with all this pressure in your skull .

Now , here's what you need to know about the toxicity symptoms .

Typically , you would have to consume over a 500 grams of polar bear liver or the liver from a walrus or liver from a moose , which is very unlikely .

The most likely source is taking it from some synthetic vitamin a .

This is one reason why I never recommend taking vitamin a as a supplement unless it comes from a natural source .

It's in a food source or it's natural because 98% of all vitamins , including vitamin a , are made synthetically .

And I'm not just talking about the retinol version , which is the active form .

I'm talking about the pre vitamin a as beta carotene .

That's also sold synthetically , and it comes with its own package .

In fact , there's some studies that shows that it can increase your risk of getting cancer of the lung , especially if you're a smoker or drink more than one glass of alcohol per day .

If you're at the same time taking this beta carotene synthetically , it can increase your risk of getting tumors or cancer , which is crazy .

So this is why I'm very cautious about the synthetic vitamin a as a fortification in our foods as well as in our vitamins .

It's much better to get vitamin a from your foods .

Okay ?

And that would be cod liver oil , egg yolks , grass fed butter , grass fed cheese , and actual liver .

These are excellent sources of the active form of vitamin a , which is retinol .

Realize if you're taking the inactive form , beta carotene from food , that's good too .

You never have to worry about toxicity because it's never gonna happen because of the conversion from beta carotene to retinol is not very efficient , and it takes a lot of it to convert to the active form .

So there's some reports that , like you would need 6 times as much beta carotene to turn into 1 unit of retinol .

But there's mixed reviews on that .

All you need to know is it takes a lot more beta carotene to turn into the active form of retinol .

But at least if it comes from a natural source , you're never gonna have to worry about the toxicity .

It's only when you get into the synthetic antioxidant beta carotene that you have to be concerned about it .

But if you're getting your beta carotene from , like kale or any type of dark leafy green vegetable or even carrots , okay , you're not gonna have to worry about toxicity .

But realize it takes a lot of that to convert to this active form .

The other thing about vitamin a deficiencies , number 1 , look , if someone's not consuming a lot of of those foods I just mentioned , they could be deficient , especially if they're relying on just the precursor , beta carotene .

But also if there's a problem in the liver .

Okay .

Let's say , for example , you have a fatty liver .

And maybe you have a gut , you have belly fat , and you're not realizing that definitely means you have a fatty liver , or you might have liver damage from cirrhosis or any other type of inflammatory condition with the liver .

That means you're not gonna store as much vitamin a .

And so your capacity to use vitamin a from that stored vitamin a is going to be minimized .

And that can end up as a deficiency as well , especially if you have a problem with the gallbladder .

Let's say you're not producing enough bile or let's say you had your gallbladder removed or whatever , that can show up in a lack of absorption of that fat soluble nutrient from your diet .

And on top of all of that , there's one synthetic version of vitamin a .

It's an Accutane for acne .

I'm not sure if you ever heard about it before , but it's a synthetic vitamin a compound that has a black box warning on it of increased risk of depression , suicide , and psychosis .

Yeah .

A synthetic vitamin a .

So if synthetic vitamin a creates those symptoms , not to mention another big symptom called keratogenic effects , which basically are birth defects .

So if a woman is taking Accutane while she is pregnant , that child could end up with birth defects and developmental problems and even infertility or a stillbirth .

So this synthetic vitamin a comes with its own problems .

If someone does have a toxicity of vitamin a , there is , some antidotes .

Well , at least , researched on animals .

Okay .

So if you take more vitamin e , that can help reduce the toxic effects .

If you take vitamin k k one , that can reduce some of the effects as well as taking something called red yeast rice , which is a common supplement that a lot of people take , to lower their cholesterol .

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