Vitamin A: The anti-Inflammation Vitamin that Should be on Your Radar

Vitamin D sure gets a lot of airtime, but Vitamin A is equally as important to immune health and beyond. Here's some new details about this important fatty nutrient should know about.

 

 

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Time Stamps:

00:18 Vitamin is as much or more protective than vitamin D.

01:15 The 3 forms of vitamin A are retinol, retinoic acid and retinal. Retinoic acid is the most bioactive form. Cod liver, liver and carrots are rich in vitamin A.

02:22 Vitamin A helps to induce immune tolerance. Autoimmune diseases are characterized by a loss of tolerance. The immune system overreacts to tissues that it shouldn’t.

03:44 You may benefit from increasing intake of vitamin A if you have allergies, skin issues or systemic autoimmune disease. Chronic use of vitamin A, 5,000 to 10,000 IU, may be beneficial.

04:05 If you believe that you have contracted an illness or pathogen, you can do short term supraphysiologic levels of retinoic acid or retinol. For non-pregnant adults, this is between 100,000 and 200,000 IU for several days.

05:20 Retinoic acid increases activity of T regulatory cells.

05:57 T regulatory cells help to pull back unrestrained inflammation and aggression toward cell tissues. Overweight and obese people have lower amounts of T regulatory cells. Leptin, from fat tissue, suppresses functional activity of T regulatory cells.

06:33 If you have a metabolic disorder, like obesity or insulin resistance, you can manifest immunologic disease like allergies, cancer, and susceptibility to severe infection. You can exercise, do some fasting, eat real food and try vitamin D and vitamin A supplementation from diet or supplements.

08:20 Mucosal immunity is immunoglobulin antibodies from T cells in the mucus membranes of your nose, lungs, saliva, and GI tract. Vitamin A helps to prime these immune cells as part of the mucosal memory.  Your mucosa is part of your front-line defense, and they are highly influenced by vitamin A and vitamin D.

09:45 The retinoic acid receptor is very close to the vitamin D receptor, and they share signaling pathways.

 

 

References:

 

Midha, I. K., Kumar, N., Kumar, A., & Madan, T. (2020). Mega doses of retinol: A possible immunomodulation in Covid‐19 illness in resource‐limited settings. Reviews in Medical Virology, 53(3), 371–14. 

Gürbüz, M., & Aktaç, Ş. (2022). Understanding the role of vitamin A and its precursors in the immune system. Nutrition Clinique Et Métabolisme, 1–10.