When I first joined TUK,in pre internet forum days,I seem to remember being advised to take betacarotine,as hypothyroidism created a problem with converting vitamin A.
Can't seem to find anything about this now.Is it a good idea to take vitamin A or betacarotine?Just finished some cod liver oil capsules I was working my way through occasionally & not sure whether to re-order.
I would think that if you are optimally treated, you are effectively not hypothyroid and theoretically should be able to convert betacarotine to vitamin A.
So maybe just eat more carrots instead? 
I'm no expert though, so someone better informed might come along with better advise 
Naomi8
Carotene is a precursor of Vitamin A so Beta Carotene is converted into vitamin A, it would make sense to take the converted form.
I would go for the vitamin itself, rather than the provitamin (beta-carotene).
It's analogous to taking T4 and assuming you can convert it to T3, but that might or might not be true, so taking T3 would avoid the doubt.
Read this link : thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/treatm...
According to the internet, one persimmon (sharon fruit) gives you half your recommended daily allowance of vitamin A. They are available in supermarkets, although they are imported as you cannot grow them outdoors in the UK.
Trouble is, that is in the form of beta-carotene which, as discussed above, needs to be converted.
They are also much more expensive than say, carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes or many other vegetables.
Also, don't eat unripe persimmons!
Oh well, perhaps I'm the only one who loves fruit from around the world! There are 2 kinds of persimmon. The squat ones have to be eaten very ripe. rarely available in this country and very expensive. The more commonly available, now grown in Spain, can be bought from Lidle's and other budget supermakets at this time of year and although not as cheap as carrots, are similar in price to a bar of budget chocolate at £1 for 3 fruits so worth a treat even if in the beta carotene form - there are other benefits such as fibre. These ones don't have the tannin that squat ones have so can be eaten fairly hard.
For a couple of years,we owned a house in Italy with a persimmon tree in it.My husband picked the ripe fruit from the tree.I never ate them,as they were so drying on the mouth.Sounds like they weren't ripe.
We had a tree too and we ate them straight off the branches when absolutely falling with ripeness. If you get any of the tannin then they're not ripe enough. You can leave them for a few days next to an apple to ripen. They are widely eaten in asia where they are treated with respect for their health benefits. Fruit in season is eaten as desert as traditionally people did not have ovens to bake. However, they can be baked too.
It seems you need to be careful not to overindulge every day all year around if you have one of the conditions Helvella has mentioned although I never heard of it before despite living in persimmon growing countries for many years.
I do not know much about the different varieties of persimmon.
Having tried the ones available in, for example, Lidl, I end up wondering why I bothered. Not at all unpleasant but rather so-what. I prefer most other fruits! Nothing against them and I might add some to a fruit salad but I'd rather have a decent apple.
In case anyone is wondering about my comment regarding unripe persimmons, here is a quote from a persimmon website which warns about the possible consequence of eating unripe persimmons:
Diospyrobezoars
Diospyrobezoars are rarely occuring phytobezoars associated with the excessive eating of persimmons. Diospyrobezoars are often very hard and almost woody in consistency. One case in medical literature from 2004 revealed a 51-year old patient who had eaten a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of unpeeled persimmons each day for 40 years (Altinli et al. 2004)!
While a number of ailments may produce the same symptoms, the symptoms created by diospyrobezoars may include distended and tender stomach, dyspepsia (pain or discomfort in the area between the belly-button and the sternum), bloating, vomiting, weakness, and weight loss (Sanders 2004).
Those at Risk
People predisposed to bezoars include those who have had previous gastric surgery, slowed gastric motility, Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes melliuts, Guillian Barre, hypothyroidism, Intrahepatic cholestasis, Miltonic Dystrophy, and Renal failure, as well as some Psychiatric illnesses (Kishan 2001, Sanders 2004).
Treatment
Bezoars may often be treated with medical therapy to dissolve the bezoar with enzymes. Oddly enough, one such therapy even uses Coca Cola (Chung et al 2005)! Endoscopic procedures are primarily used with bezoars. However, in severe cases, or with very large bezoars, surgery may be required. Laparoscopy has been used successfully in several such surgeries (Altinli 2004, Andrus 1988, Maingot 1985, Sanders 2004, and others).
persimmonpudding.com/bezoar...
Fascinating, never heard of the things! Sounds a bit like swallowing pieces of rubber that become vulcanised by stomach acid?
Eating anything at all excessively makes you ill doesn't it? I have no idea how the person in the article managed to eat so many unripe persimmons as they are totally inedible due to the tanin in them. They completely dry your mouth and you cannot chew them. A kilogram every day is a huge amount! Sounds a bit weird, haha!!
Some info here soscuisine.com/recipe/fresh...
The example might indeed be extreme. But the warning is emphasised for the specific categories identified - and I think quite a number here would fall into those categories.
In that case the categories would have to avoid all of these!!
"Bezoars are classified according to the material that forms them: Phytobezoars are composed of indigestible food fibers, such as cellulose. These fibers occur in fruits and vegetables, including celery, pumpkin, prunes, raisins, leeks, beets, persimmons and sunflower-seed shells"
It's the other way round. Beta carotene has to be converted into vit A, so if you can't convert you need to take vit A directly. It's a problem for people with Addisons/adrenal problems and hypothyroidism or genetic polymorphisms of the BCMO (??) gene. You can overdose vitamin A, so need to take care.
Agreed. The possibility of excess vitamin A is precisely why so many supplements stick to beta-carotene.
Although excess beta-carotene can make skin go orange, there is little evidence of any serious impact of even very high doses.
What is the converted form of Vitamin A then in supplement form?
Vitamin A is the "converted" form (aka retinol)
Could you paste an example of a product from amazon? Most have strange looking ingredient sources and it can be tough to navigate exactly which product type to purchase.
I've never supplemented vit A, so no, I can't, I'm sure you can search just as well as I can.
try googling"Healthspan"they have a good website & telephone customer service.
I buy their fish oil & non-acidic vitamin C,as well as their MSM
Organic soup made with carrots and red lentils is great for vitamin A. I had some for lunch yesterday and also eat plenty of organic carrots too.
I only eat organic carrots,raw & cooked,but I cannot digest lentils.I love lentil soup,too!
What a shame, I am lucky in that I can eat everything. Raw carrots are great though
i used to make a delicious spicy tomato & red lentil soup from the Cranks recipe book.Now I only eat onions & lentils occasionally & miss the sort of recipes that include onions & lentils.I'm grateful my reactions are mild & I don't need to follow the FODMAP diet!
I am not a brilliant cook and use lentils a lot both my friend and partner can eat raw red onions but not cooked shallots, weird.
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