Vitamin A-mazing

with Pam Schoenfeld

Looking for ways to support the immune system? Let’s turn to vitamin A. It truly is an A-mazing vitamin that is often overlooked. Registered dietician and nutritionist Pam Schoenfeld discusses today what this vitamin can do for us, in what foods it is most bio-available (including liver) and what she has seen it do for her clients—from clearing up acne, resolving poor night vision, improving fertility, to resolving low energy and fatigue.

Most of us are vitamin A deficient, and completely unaware of it. Symptoms can include dry eye, vaginal dryness, skipping menstrual cycles, gut problems and more. Together, we discuss how to include more of it in our diet and what we can expect when we do.

Notes:

Highlights from the conversation include:

How Vitamin A supports our immune system
How it is one of the most important nutrients to fight viruses
The misbelief that we get enough vitamin A in our diet
Why relying on vegetables is not sufficient for adequate vitamin A intake
How vegetables contain carotenoids only (precursors to vitamin A) and the ability to extract and convert varies greatly among people
Signs of vitamin A deficiency include: irregular periods, dry eyes, bumpy skin, low energy, frequent sickness, chronically tired, poor night vision, vaginal dryness, eczema, acne
How Liver is the number 1 dietary source of vitamin A
Other sources: fish eyes, organs, salmon, fish eggs, grass-fed dairy, egg yolks, kidneys
How Cod liver oil has the right balance of A and D
How it is helpful to get sunshine so that your D and A remain in balance
Vitamin A toxicity may be off-base. Most people are probably not reacting to the vitamin as much as a reaction to the food
Changes people notice when they increase their uptake of foods with vitamin A
Adequate vitamin A means your body develops more virus-cidle mucus (meaning virus-killing)
Short list of what vitamin A can do: supports your immune system, help you lose weight, give you more energy, heal your gut, clear up skin problems (including bumps on back of the arms), help with fertility, and gives babies in utero a stronger immune system for life (and better lungs), protects against cancer, and helps modulate immune system if you have an autoimmune condition
Vitamin A helps with vision, too
How we don’t need to fear liver as an organ that stores toxins
Zinc deficiency and iron deficiency can masquerade as vitamin A deficiency
Try vitamin A & trust that ancestral nutrition really did have it right

Resources:

Strategene test – http://go.strategene.org/genetic-analysis

Cronometer to help you measure nutrient units in your diet – https://cronometer.com

GAPS diet

* About vitamin A toxicity – Please note: Siblings study shows severe hypervitaminosis A

“For people who have liver disease, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), it would be advisable to limit all sources of the retinol form of vitamin A to 2,000-3,000 IU per day, or limit according to their doctor’s instructions. The liver loses capacity to store vitamin A during these conditions and the blood level of vitamin A can exceed healthy normal levels if dietary intake is high. Keep in mind that NAFLD is a silent in most cases and does not cause a rise in liver enzymes in most people. An ultrasound of the abdomen is the best non-invasive way of determining if the liver is accumulating fat. This condition is highly prevalent in people with obesity and those who exhibit large abdomens indicating visceral obesity surrounding the organs. In addition, individuals with zinc deficiency are more susceptible to vitamin A toxicity in the liver as zinc is needed to transport stored vitamin A from the liver to extra-hepatic tissues. Finally, there has been one case report of a young child developing lethal vitamin A toxicity from consuming chicken liver a few times a week, that child was suspected to have a genetic defect in clearing vitamin A from the liver. A younger sibling exhibited similar clinical features but recovered with severe restriction of vitamin A intake. This inborn condition is believed to be extremely rare however.”