Vitamin A - retinol.: Dr. John Campbell posted a... - Thyroid UK

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Vitamin A - retinol.

5 months ago•10 Replies

Dr. John Campbell posted a video about how low vitamin A (retinol) levels predispose a person to experience pneumonia from the Mycoplasm pneumoniae which is currently at near epidemic levels among children in northern China. No surprise here to be honest considering the severe lockdowns. Children have not been exposed to other children for three years and now they are getting everything all at the same time: Respiratory Syncytial virus, Mycoplasma pneumonia, Covid 19, and influenza.

However due to some of the same reasons there is a lot of this going on in places like France and other European countries.

What his presentation was about vitamin A. It was established in the early 20th century in England that a dose of cod liver oil helped to prevent chest infections. Of course this has fallen by the way side. Cod liver oil contains a lot more vitamin A than it does vitamin D.

He claimed to not have seen patients with Vitamin A deficiency in the UK but it is very common in India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and China.

I looked up the statistics Canada report on this vitamin and fully 40% of adults have inadequate vitamin A levels. I can't find any population surveys from the UK. It is just assumed that it is rare. Without hard data, claiming that vitamin A deficiency is very rare in the UK is just nonsense speculation.

'How common is vitamin A deficiency in Canada?

The prevalence of inadequate intakes was highest for vitamin A, vitamin D (see Box 1 below), magnesium and calcium. More than 35% of Canadians age 19 and over consumed vitamin A in quantities below the EAR, with the prevalence of inadequate intakes rising to greater than 40% in most adult age and sex groups.'

google.com/search?q=canada+...

I query that considering Canada is not that different from the UK in many aspects of diet.

Also there is fear mongering that taking retinol is inherently somehow dangerous because of overdose.

This is scare tactic and nonsense. If the daily requirement is 3,000 IU, how many people are actually getting that?

My first appointment with the endo back in 2012 included a test for vitamin A. I was well in range.

Seeing as how vitamin A is one of the fat solubles like Vitamin D3 and K2 it is important for many things including the immune system. Dr. Campbell was focussing during the Covid19 pandemic on the need for good levels of vitamin D. He acknowledges now that he wasn't paying attention to vitamin A levels and with a disease like Covid19 which affects the lungs, a good vitamin A level might have prevented deaths.

healthline.com/nutrition/vi...

If it is not tested, then how to know if it's not a problem? Trouble conceiving? Do the IVF clinics test vitamin A?

I think vitamin A needs to be tested along with the rest of them. Better to actually know. Very few people eat liver and oily fish these days.

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TiggerMe5 months ago

Must admit I take the odd drop or 2 of Vit A as I don't get enough in my diet and had read about the importance of it

gabkad in reply to TiggerMe5 months ago

Vitamin A is essential for normal vision and

a healthy skin, to prevent night blindness,

and for a normal immune response (the

ability to fight infection and prevent tumours

and respiratory infections) . In

developing countries, blindness due to

vitamin A deficiency affects 3 to 10 million

children . Vitamin A deficiency

interferes with the formation of haemoglobin

and therefore vitamin A supplementation in

combination with iron may be more effective

than iron alone in treating iron-deficiency

anaemia .

This is probably a good additional note for people who are anemic but taking iron alone does not appear to solve the problem. There is a blood test for retinol and it needs to be done as well.

I take 25,000 IU once every two or three weeks just as an insurance policy because I know my intake is sketchy.

Also alcohol intake will interfere with vitamin A absorption. I'll assume that means people who drink in excess and eat poorly.

TiggerMe in reply to gabkad5 months ago

I run with 500ug- 1000ug 1 -2 drops (1666IU per drop) a couple of times a week...

I even remember it's not to be overdone, so wary of it

Alanna0125 months ago

I take 5000IU vitamin A (when I remember lol) along with all the other supplements, sigh. I think Dr Westin Childs suggested taking it along with vit D and K and I also read somewhere to not bother taking omega 3 capsules but take a good Cod Liver Oil that has the vitamin A retained. Some of the popular brands like 7 Seas have a substantial amount of the Vit A removed, I think due to fears about Vitamin A and pregnancy.

Thinking back I wish I had taken some during pregnancy! If I knew the things I know now...

I wonder why other scientists and doctors didn't recommend taking Vit A during the pandemic then.

Margo5 months ago

Thanks for posting. I watch all Dr John Campbell videos, he is a very wise man.

janeroar5 months ago

hi Vitamin A supplements can be very dangerous. 2 massive clinical trials giving smokers vitamin A to reduce their chances of lung cancer were pulled early because the rates of cancer shot up for those taking vitamin A. So I’d be very very careful about supplementing it. If you think you’re deficient try hard to get it in your diet would be the most sensible thing to do.

TiggerMe in reply to janeroar5 months ago

Interesting I know this was found to be the case with beta carotene supplements (pre retinol) do you know which form they were given in this trial?

youtube.com/watch?v=kng8mGS...

janeroar in reply to TiggerMe5 months ago

Both forms used in trials.

For sure we are at risk of lower levels of vitamin A because of poor gut function but having steak/red meat and or lots of leafy veg should be enough. Hopefully! Personally I wouldn’t risk supplementing it; the weight of evidence is that it’s really too risky

More info here:

ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/V...

The Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET) included 18,314 male and female current and former smokers (with at least a 20 pack-year history [equivalent to smoking 1 pack per day for 20 years or 2 packs per day for 10 years, for example] of cigarette smoking) as well as some men occupationally exposed to asbestos (who also have a higher risk of lung cancer), all age 45–74 years. The study randomized participants to take supplements containing 30 mg beta-carotene plus 25,000 IU (7,500 mcg RAE) retinyl palmitate or a placebo daily for about 6 years to evaluate the potential effects on lung cancer risk [63]. The trial was ended prematurely after a mean of 4 years, partly because the supplements were unexpectedly found to have increased lung cancer risk by 28% and death from lung cancer by 46%; the supplements also increased the risk of all-cause mortality by 17%.

A subsequent study followed CARET participants for an additional 6 years after they stopped taking the study supplements [64]. During this time, the differences in lung cancer risk between the intervention and placebo groups were no longer statistically significant, with one exception: women in the intervention group had a 33% higher risk of lung cancer. In a separate analysis of CARET study data, men who took the two supplements had a 35% lower risk of nonaggressive prostate cancer during the 4-year active trial but not during the 6-year postintervention period. In contrast, men who took these two supplements in addition to another self-prescribed supplement (typically a multivitamin) had a 52% higher risk of aggressive prostate cancer during the active trial, but not during the postintervention period [65].

The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene (ATBC) Cancer Prevention Study also found that beta-carotene supplements increased the risk of lung cancer in smokers [66]. In this study, 29,133 male smokers age 50–69 years who smoked an average of 20.4 cigarettes a day for an average of 35.9 years took a supplement containing 50 mg/day alpha-tocopherol, 20 mg/day beta-carotene, both alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene, or a placebo for 5–8 years. The beta-carotene supplements increased the risk of lung cancer by 18%, although they had little to no effect on the incidence of other cancers. The overall rate of death, primarily from lung cancer and ischemic heart disease, was 8% higher in participants who took beta-carotene. A subsequent study followed 25,563 of these participants for an additional 18 years [67]. During this period, participants were no longer taking the supplements, but most continued to smoke. Participants who had taken beta-carotene in the original trial did not have a higher risk of lung cancer, but they had a 20% higher risk of death due to prostate cancer.

The Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS2) was a 5-year randomized clinical trial with 4,203 participants age 50–85 years examining the effects on AMD of a dietary supplement containing several ingredients with or without beta-carotene (15 mg [7,500 mcg RAE]) [68]. No current smokers received the supplements containing beta-carotene. At the end of the trial, more lung cancers were discovered in the beta-carotene group than in the no beta-carotene group (23 vs. 11 cases), and 31 of the 34 affected were former smokers. In a follow-up analysis of 3,882 of the participants 5 years after the end of AREDS2 (during which they took the AREDS2 formulation containing lutein and zeaxanthin instead of beta-carotene), the increased lung cancer risk persisted, with an 82% higher risk among participants who took the supplement containing beta-carotene during the 5-year AREDS2 trial [69].

SmallBlueThing5 months ago

Not sure why lockdowns rather than repeated COVID-19 infections are considered the problem, but money and reputations no doubt feature.

Blessed are the cheese-makers! Daily consumption of 150-200g covers the daily requirement for retinol, calcium, B12 etc. Substitute with other sources (of course) to reduce the grams of fat.

helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK5 months ago

Vitamin A is supposed to be considered in terms of RAE (retinol activity equivalents) as the various forms each has their own IU which are NOT equivalent to each other.

Excess vitamin A (as retinol) being dangerous is not a scare tactic. It is the case.

There might be a counter-argument that many need it but we see the "more is better" attitude all the time therefore a warning is very much needed.

So far, no-one has mentioned a major thyroid-related factor. In hypothyroidism, ability to convert beta-carotene into vitamin A is impaired. Thus, no matter how much beta-carotene is consumed (whether as foods or supplements), the actual vitamin A level can be low. Indeed, failure of our systems to work as they do in health in respect to processing beta-carotene is one reason the orange skin of carotenemia is sometimes reported.

RAE and much else in this link:

ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/V...

As the rest of the thread seems not even to mention thyroid, I'll close it to further replies.

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