Cod Liver Oil and Vitamin A

[sizerp]

Intro:
With all the preaching about incorporating EFA's in diet, and the use of fish oils to attain o m e g a s, I thought I'd warn about cod liver oils.

Cod liver oil contains retinoids, retinol specifically. Retinol is the animal form of Vitamin A, which can be fatal if overdosed. Retinol is a fat soluble vital mineral which is also one of the most usable forms of Vitamin A.

Overdose and Toxicity vs. RDA:
High intakes of Vitamin A can cause hypervitaminosis A, which effects include: birth defects, liver problems, reduction in bone mineral density (osteoporosis), course bone growth, skin discoloration, hair loss, excessive skin dryness/peeling, just to name a few. Now, our bodies use two forms of Vitamin A (as mentioned above), the dimerized form (carotene), and the ester form (found in animals). Now, we don't necessarily worry about toxicity from Vitamin A converted from carotene, as our bodies will appropriate it accordingly.

So we know that Vitamin A, if overdosed for a prolonged period of time is considered chronic, and can cause nausea, blurred vision, fatigue, weight loss, etc. This usually occurs when an individual ingests up to 3-4x more than the RDA of 3,000I.U. per day, for a 25 year old male. However, the Food Standards Agency states that an average adult should not consume more than 5,000I.U. per day. Which just so happens to be amount of Vitamin A ester found in 1 serving of my Cod liver oil! The tolerable upper level intake for a 25 year old male is 10,000I.U. per day. (According to DRI). Many multi-vitamins can contain upwards of 1,000I.U. of Vitamin A per dose (usually a 50/50 split between B-carotene and acetate from fish oils). Imagine stacking a few doses of Cod liver oil, your multi-vitamin, plus general dietary intake of Vitamin A everyday, and not know it?

Just be weary of retinoid overdose when purchasing your EFA supplemented Cod liver oil! I dose mine maybe 1-3 times a week, at 5,000I.U. per serving (which may even be too much, for you paranoid freaks out there).

*On a side note, Vitamin A is used to help with vision, as you may know; it is required to produce rhodopsin, the visual pigment used in low level light. I ponder it's role in combating the sides of the recently introduced SARMS; which have, reportedly, been vision related. Phate, care to chime in on this one?

[eatrainrest]

good stuff sizerp, was wondering which EFA's have a more toxic vitamin A ratio

[sizerp]

Bizump.

[C_Bino]

If the vit A is from Beta-carotene than its pro vitamin A and not pure retinol. The only pure vit A is from fish.

I wouldnt worry too much about overdosing unless you consume over 40 000iu for over 6 weeks. If you are pregnant or lactating than there is some definite concerns.

But many digestive healing formula's call for 40 000iu of vit A per day for 6-9 weeks.

In fact I have done this dose and had no ill effects. The concern is when you are taking synthetic forms of vit A...this includes acetate. You want to buy pure retinol.

But fish body oil that we take for EFA's contain no vitamin A.