ALERT - Vitamin A is probably simple antidote to bird flu, mainstream literature shows

New AIDS Review ^ | 11/20/2005 | New AIDS Review

[Judith Anne]

Let's review this again:

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 76:45, 2002.)

Does the severe toxicity occur in children or adults at the 300 mg level? What is the toxic dose in people who are not deficient (like most Americans)? If the normal requirement is only 5000 IU per day, and the therapeutic dose is five to twenty times that much, you would likely be seeing toxicity right around there. The studies simply don't exist, in mice or in humans, to determine if supplemental doses of vitamin A in whatEVER quantity will help, or make the patient sicker and even exacerbate the disease.

From the article:

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.

A BETTER strategy would be to do some studies on effectiveness against H5N1 and with respect to therapeutic/toxic levels in lab rats, publish that, and THEN make wild claims about a few cents for "every man, woman and child on the planet."

And you're right, I'm mistaken. You didn't post the article. But here you are, anyway.

Frankly, I hope the writer sticks to treating AIDS with vitamin A and stays away from H5N1. Just my opinion.

[webstersII]

"Does the severe toxicity occur in children or adults at the 300 mg level? "

Absolutely. 300 mg. = 1,000,000 IU and Merck says that is highly toxic.

"What is the toxic dose in people who are not deficient (like most Americans)?"

Merck says that for adults toxicity occurs when (100,000 IU)/day have been taken for months. They know this because people with certain kinds of severe acne take large doses of the stuff so they have a U.S. population which to study.

"If the normal requirement is only 5000 IU per day, and the therapeutic dose is five to twenty times that much, you would likely be seeing toxicity right around there."

I'm not sure where you get this idea. The Merck manual says just the opposite of what you said, i.e., that 100,000 is only toxic to adults if taken for months. At the lower end of the range - 25,000 IU - the chances of toxicity are much lower. The recommendations that were in the article are reasonable for adults for a short time, which is I believe what the article intended to say.

"The studies simply don't exist, in mice or in humans, to determine if supplemental doses of vitamin A in whatEVER quantity will help, or make the patient sicker and even exacerbate the disease."

That's true, there are no studies to show this. That's what I've been saying, there is lots more study to be done but there are some good indications of where to start because of the actions of Vit. A on TNF. I seriously doubt it could make anyone sicker (as long as they stay within dosage guidelines) but that's TBD.

[ladyinred]

Here it is! Get your vitamin A!