--------RE: ANTIOXIDANTS
 
 January 22, 2003
 Vitamin A Supplements May Hurt Bones
 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
 
 Taking vitamin A supplements can weaken the bones
 and increase the risk of fractures up to seven
 times, according to a large Swedish study.
 
 The research, conducted on men, confirms three
 earlier studies in women showing that high
 intake of vitamin A raises the risk of broken
 hips and weak bones. The latest study is the
 first to measure levels of the vitamin in blood,
 rather than just asking about diet and supplement
 use.
 
 DOSE: The three-decade study and other
 evidence suggest that daily vitamin A consumption
 of more than 1.5 milligrams [5000 IU] can be
 dangerous, and that most people should not take
 vitamin A supplements.
 
 Current dietary recommendations call for only 0.7
 mg of vitamin A for women and 0.9 mg for men a
 day. That is easily supplied by a healthy diet.
 
 But many popular multivitamins contain 0.75 mg
 to 1.5 mg of vitamin A, generally listed on
 labels as 2,500 international units and 5,000
 IUs, respectively.
 
 ``Vitamin A is potentially harmful,'' said Dr.
 Donald Louria, chairman emeritus of preventive
 medicine at the University of Medicine and
 Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, N.J. ``Unless
 there is a known medical reason like certain
 diseases of the eye, people should not be taking
 vitamin A supplements.''
 
 The study by doctors at University Hospital in
 Uppsala was reported in Thursday's New England
 Journal of Medicine. It involved 2,322 men.
 
 Vitamin A is known as an antioxidant.
 Antioxidants are believed to reduce the risk of
 cancer and heart disease. Government studies show
 one-third to one-half of Americans take vitamin A
 or multivitamins containing it.
 
 Vitamin A can interfere with cells that produce
 new bone, stimulate cells that break down old
 bone and interfere with vitamin D, which helps
 the body maintain normal calcium levels.
 
 In the study, about one-fifth, or roughly 465 of
 the men, were found to be at risk because they
 had the highest levels of vitamin A. The men were
 about 2-1/2 times more likely to break a hip and
 65 percent more likely to suffer any fracture
 than those with lower levels of the vitamin in
 their blood.
 
 Those in the 99th percentile were about seven
 times more likely to break a bone.
 
 FISH-OIL: Louria said that people should not take
 fish oil supplements or eat liver more than once
 a week, but that multivitamins containing 0.1 mg
 or less [300 IU] of vitamin A are fine for people
 eating a healthy diet.
 
 DIET: Large amounts of vitamin A are found in
 beef liver and fish liver oils; smaller amounts
 are in egg yolks, butter and cream. Milk and some
 cereals are fortified with vitamin A and, per
 serving, provide about 10 percent of daily
 needs.  And substances in dark green, leafy
 vegetables and yellow vegetables and fruits are
 converted to vitamin A in the body.
 
 Annette Dickinson, acting president of the trade
 group for supplement makers, the Council for
 Responsible Nutrition, said the Swedish men had
 an unusually high intake of vitamin A, even
 though very few were taking supplements.
 
 ``I don't think there's a reason now from the
 studies we have before us to say that
 multivitamins containing ordinary amounts of
 vitamin A are harmful,'' Dickinson said. She said
 that in many multivitamins, much of the vitamin A
 is in the form of beta-carotene, which studies
 have shown does not weaken bones.
 
 The study had some shortcomings: Blood levels of
 vitamin A were measured only once, and the
 participants' reports of diet and supplement use
 20 years later did not match well with their
 earlier vitamin A blood levels.
 
 On the Net:
 National Osteoporosis Foundation: http://www.nof.org
 Trade group for supplement makers: http://www.crnusa.org
 American Dietetic Association: http://www.eatright.org
 

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