Nutrients
Vitamin A: Dangerous Misinformation
Vitamin A is widely misunderstood and wrongly portrayed as dangerous. An overview of the science behind the myths.
Nutrients
Vitamin A is widely misunderstood and wrongly portrayed as dangerous. An overview of the science behind the myths.
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Hardly any vitamin is as misunderstood as vitamin A. Many people associate vitamin A – technically called retinol – with potential toxicity.
Oddly enough, we tend in our society to judge an unrealistic future scenario as far worse than the opposite: inaction.
So suppose 50,000 IU per day – that is, 15 times the daily requirement – taken over extended periods were harmful. We then conclude in principle that "very little vitamin A" would be beneficial for us.
Those who think this is too banal a logic are welcome to read on – more on this shortly.
From vitamin A (retinol), the body makes a hormone called retinoic acid. It has accompanied us since our earliest days, even as an embryo in our mother's womb.
Because retinoic acid receptors control development significantly right from the start. Throughout the rest of life, vitamin A regulates things like our puberty in this way.
A serious problem in developing countries, where many, many children show severe developmental delays due to vitamin A deficiency.
We have covered the roles of vitamin A in the body in many articles:
Unfortunately, the claim has taken hold that "beta-carotene is a safe form of vitamin A" – some carotenoids, like beta-carotene, theoretically serve the body as a vitamin A precursor, which is why they're also called provitamin A.
We now know with certainty that beta-carotene is not a good vitamin A source for most people in Switzerland and beyond. This is due to a multitude of mutations (polymorphisms) in the gene responsible for converting beta-carotene to vitamin A.
But also to several other "weak points" – such as the fact that the enzyme becomes saturated very quickly and beta-carotene is difficult to extract from the plant matrix.
Moreover, beta-carotene has an anti-vitamin A effect because it blocks vitamin A receptors. Beta-carotene thus eventually does exactly the opposite of what you hope for.
For pregnant women, this misinformation is particularly tragic. We are regularly contacted by anxious pregnant women worried about, for example, the 25% RDA in our Mama Multi.
"Your doctor said..." – yes, gynecologists still warn about "the evil vitamin A." But they usually forget to explain that …
As recently as 2022, an animal study demonstrated that "poor maternal vitamin A status" can be considered a risk factor for the development of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (a typical sign of embryotoxicity).
This fact brings us back to the opening statement: If something at high doses in a critical phase is potentially toxic, it is not valid to conclude that very little of it would be particularly protective.
This drives us on. There is simply far too much (nutrition) mythology that can make people sick – and does make people sick. It's hard to understand how, with all the modern data available, outdated, long-superseded knowledge continues to be spread.
Moreover, it's difficult to bear that many people abandon the path of rational thought, especially when it would be most important to stay on it. For instance, in early pregnancy.
Instead, advice driven by panic and fear – and misinformation – increases the risk that something goes wrong. It certainly doesn't lower it.
