Page 22 - Winter2008

an agent that promotes depression.” Rather than suggesting that vitamin VITAMIN D AND ESKIMO HYSTERIA
A helped prevent depression, the authors suggested that vitamin A may Recent reviews reference a 1985 paper argu-
support dopamine signaling so robustly that it leads to dopamine exhaus- ing that the high intake of vitamin A among the
tion. Arctic Inuit was responsible for a phenomenon
25
There are two lines of evidence that these reviews offer in support of of hysteria that they called pibloktoq. This
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the hypothesis that vitamin A causes depression: the vitamin A-related disorder involves several days of irritability or
drug Accutane has been associated with depression and suicide; and re- withdrawal, a sudden excitation wherein the
searchers have claimed that the high vitamin A intakes of the Arctic Inuit victim flees the camp and engages in irrational
cause a phenomenon known as Eskimo hysteria. and dangerous behavior, convulsive seizures, a
Accutane is not vitamin A. The body handles it differently from natu- twelve-hour period of coma or stuporous sleep,
ral vitamin A (see Figure 4) and there are a number of lines of evidence and a return to normal. The author offers the
showing that it acts as an anti-vitamin A compound that can aggravate following lines of evidence supporting a tie to
vitamin A deficiency. In newborn mice treated with dexamethasone, a vitamin A toxicity: the Inuit consider polar bear
drug that induces emphysema-like changes to lung tissue, natural vitamin liver, which is the richest source of vitamin A,
A helps treat the disorder while the active ingredient of Accutane has no to be toxic; explorers who eat polar bear liver out
effect and may even make it worse. Accutane caused night blindness, of necessity experience drowsiness, irritability,
30
a traditional sign of vitamin A deficiency, in a child with cystic fibrosis, headaches, and nausea within hours of consum-
whereas vitamin A supplementation resolved the night blindness. In rats, ing it; and case reports of vitamin A toxicity
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the active ingredient of this drug accumulates in the eyes and interferes involve irritability, drowsiness, double vision
with vitamin A recycling; rats taking it at high doses took fifty times longer and anorexia.
to recover from exposure to intense light than rats that did not take the Even within this paper the author mentions
drug at all. 32 numerous facts that make this hypothesis prob-
A physician published a letter earlier this year reporting that two pa- lematic. The specific symptoms of pibloktoq are
tients developed depression on Accutane; when the physician took them limited to the Arctic and Antarctic and tend to
off the drug and supplemented them with 10-12,000 IU of vitamin A for occur in the late winter and early spring. There
seven to ten days, the depression resolved and they were able to go back is no compelling explanation for why vitamin
on the drug without it recurring. The totality of the evidence strongly A toxicity would fall within these geographical
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suggests that vitamin A deficiency contributes to depression and that and seasonal restrictions. The Inuit consider
Accutane is associated with this mental illness because it interferes with polar bear liver safe as long as the membrane is
vitamin A metabolism. removed and consider seal liver, which contains
Ironically, in order to understand the connection of vitamin D with half as much vitamin A, safe to eat in unlimited
mental health, we must examine the next criticism levied against vitamin quantities. If vitamin A were the toxic compo-
A. nent of polar bear liver, the cultural prohibition

THE FEEL-GOOD FOODS

The foods that protect us against depression and help us engage in low time-preference, future-oriented activities are
the same foods that traditional cultures valued for good health. They provide vitamins A and D, calcium and arachidonic
acid in abundance.

Cod liver oil (vitamins A and D)
Butter from grass-fed animals (arachidonic acid, vitamins A and D)
Egg yolks from grass-fed chickens (arachidonic acid, vitamins A and D)
Fats from grass-fed animals (arachidonic acid, vitamins A and D)
Organ meats from grass-fed animals (arachidonic acid, vitamins A and D)
Bone broths (calcium)
Raw whole milk from grass-fed animals (calcium, arachidonic acid, vitamins A and D)
Fish eggs (vitamins A and D)
Small whole fish (calcium, vitamins A and D)
Shell fish (vitamins A and D)

22 Wise Traditions WINTER 2008