Posted on 06/05/2006 6:36:33 AM PDT by CellPhoneSurfer
ALERT - Vitamin A is probably simple antidote to bird flu, mainstream literature shows
Hold those billions, Vitamin A blocks bird flu lung devastation
New AIDS Review - 11/20/2005
All the panic over H5N1 seems a little overblown when you consider that the virus has been around for eight years at least without morphing into a deadly human version that can sweep the globe from human to human. The very same H5N1 was the cause of the "Avian flu" outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997.
But just to reduce the hysteria a few more notches, we have decided to relent on our decision ... to be kind to the drug companies, officious officials, army of doomsayers and worrywarts, posturing politicians, and all the other people whose interests mesh smoothly with maximum flu alarm, and announce with a trumpet fanfare the final solution to bird flu.
We at New AIDS Review thus proudly note today (Sun Nov 20, 2005), apparently for the first time in any form of media outside the medical literature, the references that tell what the ultimate solution to bird flu surely is: a modest dose of Vitamin A to anyone who contracts it.
You read right. The $7.2 billion question is this: why spend billions upon billions on massive and uncertain preventive measures such as
a) executing the few chickens owned by poor Asian families who may depend on them for survival
b) the unlikely effort to prevent H5N1 spreading among domestic fowl by vaccinating 5.1 billion birds in China and billions elsewhere in Asia (the Chinese eat 14 billion chickens a year, so even if a gigantic army of vaccinators is successfully recruited and swings into action, they will have to keep at it forever, as if they were repainting a hundred Golden Gate bridges annually),
c) stockpiling enough vaccine for humans which if it can be done will take months and may be evaded anyway by the evolving virus, and
d) distributing enough antivirals like Tamiflu to sink a ship when there is some question as to whether they will be effective against this virus (according to the British Medical Journal current issue 2005;331;1266 'How the Media Caught Tamiflu')
when, according to the mainstream medical literature lying under the noses of the pontificating pundits and overly political scientists such as Anthony Fauci and the CDC brass who are on every TV channel this morning chinking their medals and repeating what the media have been hearing for months, the simple solution to H5N1 is this: give anyone who contracts deadly bird flu a dose of Vitamin A.
This will do the trick because Vitamin A reliably blocks the pathway of creation of deadly Tumor Necrosis factor in the lungs, which is the aspect of bird flu which is so deadly.
That is what the referenced papers say which we list below, which are readily available to any of these heroes of health for their bedtime reading.
Government without time to read
Why this grand army of well paid advisors, experts, commentators, WHO statisticians, field workers, corporate chieftains, Presidential advisors, think tank wonks, fast-talking current affairs hosts, and other luminaries have somehow overlooked them in their rush to judgement we hesitate to imagine.
Could it be that, in this age of information deluge, opinion making of every kind in the hottest issues of the day has now become completely divorced from factual information if that data is buried in any form of publication other than newspaper headlines and book reviews?
If so, it bodes ill for the future. Certainly there are already two huge signs that this is now true: Katrina and Iraq. In both cases, extensive written advisories were completely ignored.
As we all know, there were plenty of warnings in the form of levee engineering reports that a strong hurricane would flood New Orleans out of existence, written years before Katrina struck. So many, in fact, that even the leisurely PBS had time to send a documentary crew down there to make the same point some years ago.
In the case of Iraq, a report of thousands of pages of what to do with the country once the war was won was prepared by the State Department, in consultation with all kinds of experts and exiled Iraqis, for the Bush administration in advance of the invasion.
According to the New Yorker, it was filed in the White House waste basket.
The Avian flu-TNF-Vitamin A paper trail
[ Below ] are the references on Vitamin A and what they say, courtesy of library research by Robert Houston, long time medical investigator and nutrition researcher in New York City, who has lectured at the New School and frequently advises reporters on health and medical topics. He writes:
Can Vitamin A Tame Bird Flu?
NewAIDSreview.org scoops the world's media by being the first to reveal that recent scientific studies point to vitamin A as a potential remedy for bird flu.
It should be noted however that the normal requirement of vitamin A is only 5000 units per day (1.5 mg), and that the therapeutic levels range from 25,000 to 100,000 units (about 7 - 28 mg).
Unlike vitamin C, it cannot be taken in gram amounts; in fact, severe toxicity has occurred at 300 mg (1 million units). Other nutrients, such as the omega-3 fatty acids of fish oil, can also help to reduce TNF overproduction.
(see Grimble, R. et al. The ability of fish oil to suppress tumor necrosis factor-a production... Am J Clin Nutr 76:454-9, 2002.)
At these [ therapeutic ] amounts it should be possible to defend every person on earth from avian flu for a fraction of the cost of Tamiflu. There is already a system in place for distributing Vitamin A to children in seventy countries.
Here is the paper trail that Houston followed that shows fairly conclusively that a little Vitamin A will tame Avian Flu:
How we know that Vitamin A tames Avian Flu:
As the last paper suggests, this knowledge about the modus operandi of Avian Flu can be used for the "development of novel therapeutic strategies".
Our "novel strategy" is to ramp up Vitamin A production to stratospheric levels and make sure there is enough for every man, woman and child on the planet. Since that would cost less than a few cents each, we reckon, it would save all of $10 billion right there in WHO salaries, Tamiflu patent royalties, Anthony Fauci television appearances, and all the other costs that modern health defenses are now saddled with.
But why haven't Anthony Fauci and his cohorts at the NIH and CDC, not to mention the WHO, come up with this themselves? Why do they need an obscure onlooker to point it out to them?
It's their job, after all, to protect us from this gigantic threat which they are saying may ruin the world. The ever authoritative Dr Fauci was saying on TV last night that, even if the virus never appears in lethal form, a vast effort to defend against it will be well worth the billions we can shovel at it. Shouldn't Dr Fauci read the medical literature in between his many sessions under the TV lights repeating the same smug alarms?
One possibility as to why the medical authorities don't know all this from reading their own literature, at bedtime if necessary, emerges from this sequence. It does help to be a nutrition expert who has researched Lyme disease, which is a relatively neglected and somewhat disputed area.
But then, so is nutrition a relatively neglected area, medically speaking, it seems to us. As a cause and cure of ailments, it is surely much more relevant than is suspected by many doctors in our commercial, drug-oriented system.
But of course, the unpatentable Vitamin A is no path to profits for the maker of Tamiflu, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, a leader in an industry where profits are not as easy to come by these days.
Having the right drug in hand for a superbug can rescue the situation very rapidly for a drug company in hard times, as the case of Viropharma shows. Crucial Antibiotic Rescues Biotech Maker's Finances
On the other hand, as the case of Viropharma also shows, meddling with Mother Nature by dosing her with an ever increasing array of drugs can lead to unintended side effects which make it ever more important to consider the more natural alternative of nutrient supplements. Apparently in this case it is drugs that beget the need for yet another drug:
C. difficile disease occurs when antibiotics used to treat a different infection wipe out the beneficial bacteria that normally reside in the colon. That leaves an opening for C. difficile, which is resistant to most antibiotics. The bacteria form spores that can persist for months on surfaces like toilets and can be transferred to patients from the hands of health care workers or visitors.
Is it too much to ask that Dr Fauci and his battalions of scientists and health workers take up our suggestion and research the saner route of a safe nutritional alternative in dealing with what they present as the global health threat of all time?
And while they are at it, perhaps they might apply the same revisionist thinking to AIDS, which according to the mainstream scientific literature they are also ignoring is the highest mountain of theoretical scientific and medical garbage that has ever accumulated.
Additional follow up material by Robert Houston:
Some may object that even if vitamin A counteracts TNF, the dosage required may be higher than the safe physiological range. It is thus pertinent to quote from the recent study by J. Ho et al. (Biochem Pharm 70:200, 2005 - item 5 in the "paper trail"), which involved human cells:
Pro-inflammatory cytokines like interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor alpha play pivotal roles in immunopathogenesis... In this study we examined the possible effects and mechanisms of vitamin A... The results indicated that physiological concentrations of vitamin A appeared to be enough to provide certain protection from the immunopathogenesis... (emphasis added)
The above findings by L.J. Ho et al. of the National Health Research Institute in Taiwan indicate that moderate therapeutic levels of vitamin A can curb TNF wherever it may occur in the body. Earlier this month a world authority on vitamin A, Alfred Sommer, M.D., former Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, told the Washington Post:
In all the studies that have been done, and there are many, the net benefit of taking a large dose of vitamin A supplement two or three times a year has been overwhelmingly positive. One can get an overdose of vitamin A, but that would only occur if one took very large doses for very long periods of time... We knew that children were vitamin A deficient in many parts of the world... even very mild vitamin A deficiency, before children even develop night blindness, increased their risk of severe and deadly infectious diseases. (Washingtonpost.com, Nov. 4, 2005)
The world owes a debt of gratitude to New AIDS Review for bringing the important new findings on vitamin A and bird flu to public attention. The point is not that vitamin A is a cure but rather that it may be a lifesaver, which can neutralize the lethal aspect of bird flu. This is not my "original research" but rather the careful work of world-class scientists in China and elsewhere, which I merely collected in a literature search through Medline - something Fauci et al. should try sometime.
Corroborative Studies
A recent review of vitamin A from the Harvard School of Public Health (1) provides additional studies concerning its effect on tumor necrosis factor (TNF). Because the Hong Kong researchers specified the hyperinduction of TNF in macrophage cells of the immune system as the main pernicious effect of avian flu virus (D.C. Lee et al., J Virol, Aug. 2005 - item 6 in "paper trail"), it's pertinent that several studies have found that vitamin A blocks TNF in macrophages (2-4). As early as 1994 it was found that vitamin A (retinoic acid) "almost completely inhibited the production of TNF by macrophages," according to scientists at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas (4).
The Harvard review also referenced a small clinical trial. Conducted at the University of Oslo in 2000, it found that "Vitamin A supplementation in patients with low vitamin A levels resulted in...decreased tumor necrosis factor-a levels" (5). The dosage was only 6500 IU per day, just slightly above the daily requirement and about 1/15th the therapeutic dosage, yet the TNF levels of the patients fell in half.
Significant inhibition of TNF was also found in clinical trials of vitamin A (and other antioxidant vitamins) conducted in Italy [6] and Greece [7].
1. Villamor, E. and Fawzi, W. Effects of vitamin A supplementation on immune responses... Clin Microbiology Revs 18:446-464, July 2005.
2. Mathew, J. and Sharma, R. Effect of all-trans-retinoic acid on cytokine production in a murine macrophage cell line. Int J Immunopharmacology 22:693-706, 2000.
3. Motomura, K. et al. Destabilization of TNF-a mRNA by retinoic acid in hepatic macrophages. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 281:E420-E429, 2001.
4. Mehta, K. et al. Inhibition by all-trans-retinoic acid of tumor necrosis factor and nitric oxide production by peritoneal macrophages. J Leukocyte Biol 55:336-342, 1994.
5. Aukrust, P. et al. Decreased vitamin A levels in common variable immunodeficiency: vitamin A supplementation in vivo enhances immunoglobulin production and downregulates inflammatory responses. Eur J Clin Invest 30:252-259, 2000.
6. G. Mantovani et al. Reactive oxygen species, antioxidant mechanisms and serum cytokine levels in cancer patients: impact of an antioxidant treatment. J. Cell. Mol. Med. 6:507-82, 2002.
7. T. Vassilakopoulos et al. Antioxidants attenuate the plasma cytokine response to exercise in humans. J. Appl. Physiol. 94:1025-32, 2003.
Additional follow up material by New AIDS Review:
here are a few more [ citations ] to clinch the matter:
[ Additional citations added to New AIDS Review here, and here. Slight editing done to include all relevant information and citations within one article and within logical context of the original article, and for minor clarification points that would not change the article content itself]
Cod liver oil is the best natural source with dietary liver being the next best.
According to the New Yorker, it was filed in the White House waste basket.
This article might have a shred of credibility if it wasn't so snarky.
This isn't a science piece. It's an editorial with an agenda.
Prevention medicine doesn't easily lend itself to clinical study; it is interesting to note that in all pandemics, the disease abates once the weakest succumb.
Yeah. Hard to believe that a few drops of soap and some hot water substantially eliminated the MILLIONS of deaths worldwide that were caused by the simple lack of handwashing by doctors and food preparers. Is this article the answer to the Avian Flu? I don't know. It does raise some legitimate questions.
In 1959 I was vaccinated against every infection known as my position was required to maintain instant deployment, can't say that I've ever had any reason to think that it harmed me.
We still lose close to 100,000/year due to the same simple failure to wash hands properly.
A hospital is the most dangerous environment for infection present today. They have all the worst germs.
I read about a health nut in Florida who drank so much carrot juice that he got cirossis(sp) of the liver and died.
One serving a day, vitamin A is toxic in excess. ;)
The fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K are stored in the liver. These supplements should be taken with responsible caution. B12 is also stored in the liver.
This would not be preventative. For a quick study, they would use people who were diagnosed--early on. Vitamin A supplements worked well in the Third World for kids and measles...I suspect it would only make a difference there.
"At these [ therapeutic ] amounts it should be possible to defend every person on earth from avian flu for a fraction of the cost of Tamiflu."
Well, the drug companies are gonna work hard to prevent a simple vitamin from taking center stage over their Tamiflu production, that will coincidentally make them many $$$$. They cannot patent a vitamin, so that means no $$$$ for them if word gets out...
As nearly as I can sort from the dross, they are stating that Vitamin A has some efficacy in muting the body's autoimmune response, especially when that response is excessive, i.e., destructive to the body.
There are a number of conditions in which autoimmune disorders cause the body to attack itself, and many of these are of a chronic nature. Osteoarthritis comes to mind.
Similarly, an acute overreaction by the immune system can cause the overproduction of Cytokines, aka a "cytokine storm" which has been implicated in the deaths of Avian Influenza patients CIDRAP link , and possibly was involved in the "spanish" influenza pandemic of 1918, leading to rapid death in some patients, complete with the characteristic darkening of the skin, as descrbed in many accounts.
The crux of the matter is one of whether Vitamin A is effective at stopping the cytokine event from occurring.
That alone could improve the survival rate, but the flu is still present, even if the immune response is muted.
This is not a guarantee, even if it is assumed that Vitamin A would prevent the immune system from 'running wild' that the now suppressed immune system could handle the virus itself.
From the first link above: at flu wiki:
However, it is reasonable and plausible to say cytokine dysregulation might be involved in some virulent influenza infections. In desperation, clinicians have treated patients with potent anti-inflammatory drugs, usually steriods. There is no evidence that this helps.
A “cytokine storm” of a more limited nature is sometimes seen in cancer chemotherapy patients, where it is treated in its earliest stages by iv. benadryl and steroids, with some success. However in these cases, there is no infectious agent involved; even if steroids worked for influenza-induced cytokine storm, they cause a general downshift of the immune system which might allow the virus to run rampant and kill the patient via ordinary viral pneumonia.
In ordinary infection-related sepsis, steroids are shown to slightly increase mortality (Crit Care Med. 1995 Aug;23(8):1430–9.)
This is but one of the complicating considerations that clinicians will have to navigate during an outbreak.
An isolated study showed that in children with central nervous system (brain) symptoms—an early sign of cytokine storm—due to (human, not H5N1) influenza infection, mild and controlled reduction in body core temperature (hypothermia) seems to reduce damage to brain cells as well as reducing the progression to a full-blown cytokine storm and multi-organ failure. (Pediatrics International Volume 42 Issue 2 Page 197 - April 2000.)
With these thoughts in mind, reduction of body temperature might be just as effective, without risking toxicity from vitamin A overload.
Now, I am not a doctor, so I reccommend researching this and making up your own mind. But as with all knowledge, just a little is a dangerous thing.
This, (Vitamin A, beyond a balanced diet/ordinary supplements) in view of the published studies, does not seem to be the magic bullet to me.
See post 34...I think you are right in passing, and there articulate why.
Interesting. I've also read that some oils and fats are useful in cytokine storms, which really have no good treatment at this time, although a lot of different things might help a little, including of all things Haldol, which I read about around a year ago (one small paper, all I could find on it). Most Vit A is dose delivered in some kind of oil, ie cod liver oil, because it's a fat soluble vitamin. It definitely CAN be toxic, and pregnant women shouldn't take more than is in normal pregnancy vitamins, there can be birth defects from too much (I'm not even sure it's included in prenatal vitamins.)
Anyway, I'm just thinking about elderberries here. When the makers of Sambucol got their product into peer-reviewed journals after conducting studies on elderberry tincture, they didn't whine about big pharma etc., or get into any conspiracy theories, they just conducted the research, did it properly so the results were reproducable, and published it.
If the case were properly made for vitamin A, and it indeed worked, it would be a great thing to potentially help alleviate problems from the pandemic. Of course, animal studies, using animals with H5N1, like maybe pigs, would help.
I'd like to see somebody do it.
Meanwhile, big pharma gets it from all sides: over-regulation by the government, class-action lawsuits that only benefit the attornies, anger from consumers over high prices for new drugs, and supplement people yelling that natural is better than the "greedy capitalist pigs" of big pharma, who don't want the little people to know about home remedies that work better...
I personally make the decisions about what I take and what it's for; luckily, my doctor agrees for the one or two prescriptions I use occasionally. I like herbals--lots of effective stuff there for what ails you...but you can't get any REALLY effective pain relief for severe pain from a plant that won't get you arrested.
Whatever works, that's my philosophy. I don't generally cotton to people that have to make a political case or an economic public indictment to rave about their solution to a problem, though...something about them just puts me off.
But just to reduce the hysteria a few more notches, we have decided to relent on our decision ... to be kind to the drug companies, officious officials, army of doomsayers and worrywarts, posturing politicians, and all the other people whose interests mesh smoothly with maximum flu alarm, and announce with a trumpet fanfare the final solution to bird flu.
I mean, please.
Thanks. You're not so naughty (ahem) afterall.
Eye problems too...I've read.
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