© Google Images
Dr. William Grant, Ph.D., an internationally recognized research scientist and vitamin D expert, found that about 30 percent of cancer deaths could be prevented each year with higher levels of vitamin D. Given that cancer, heart disease and diabetes are three of the top causes of death in the United States, getting enough of this vitamin should be a top priority. Unfortunately most of us are vitamin D deficient. It is clearly important to avoid anything that might hamper your vitamin D production. Surprisingly, it appears vitamin A supplementation may indeed have this effect.
In a recent article, Dr. John Jacob Cannell, MD, executive director of The Vitamin D Council, discussed the British Medical Journal report. He says:
"The crux of the problem is that a form of vitamin A, retinoic acid weakly activates the vitamin D response element on the gene and perhaps blocks vitamin D's more robust activation." In fact, the authors of a 1993 study state, "there is a profound inhibition of vitamin D-activated...gene expression by retinoic acid."The distinction is between various forms of vitamin A. It is the retinoic acid (retinol) form of vitamin A that is problematic. Not beta carotene.
