Question on Vitamin & Mineral intake

[nerdhume]

This is the readout from Cronometer:


I am doing very well eating sweet potatoes, should I be concerned about too much Vitamin A?
Also, for some reason my diet is lacking in exactly the things we have been suggested to supplement, magnesium, Vitamin K, Vitamin D.

[tex]

Hi Theresa,

High vitamin A intake concerns me, because not only is there evidence that vitamin A antagonizes vitamin D, but it also antagonizes the ability of calcium to respond to vitamin D (thus raising the possible prospect of osteoporosis). Another concern is adverse effects on macular degeneration.

The conclusions of the article at the following link may or may not be relevant. This experiment involved the use of retinyl palmitate, a form of retinol.

Vitamin A antagonizes calcium response to vitamin D in man.

However, the information in that chart is somewhat misleading.

Beta carotene is not vitamin A. It's a precurser to vitamin A. Vitamin A is retinol (in varying forms). Chronometer is doing a disservice to its clients by presenting their information on vitamin A in that form, because all vitamin A is not created equal. I would guess that they are displaying the amount of retinol that could theoretically be produced from the amount of beta carotene in sweet potatoes in your diet. But just because it can be converted does not mean that it will be converted (fortunately).
This describes the risk that we have to be concerned about:

Although it’s possible to get too little vitamin A, it’s easy to get too much preformed vitamin A (retinol) from supplements. Intake of up to 3,000 micrograms of preformed vitamin A, more than three times the current recommended daily level, is thought to be safe. However, there is some evidence that this much preformed vitamin A might increase the risk of hip fracture (1-3) or some birth defects. (4) Another reason to avoid too much preformed vitamin A is that it may interfere with the beneficial actions of vitamin D.

In contrast to preformed vitamin A, beta-carotene is not toxic even at high levels of intake. The body can form vitamin A from beta-carotene as needed, and there is no need to monitor intake levels, as there is with preformed vitamin A.

Vitamin A

As far as I am aware, sweet potatoes are not a significant source of retinol. They are loaded with beta carotene though, that the body readily converts to vitamin A on an as-needed basis, by converting 2 units of beta carotene into 1 unit of vitamin A in the form of retinol. We cannot ingest too much beta carotene, but we can easily overdo the retinol. IOW, as long as we allow the body to make as much retinol as needed from beta carotene, we should be fine.

Still, for all I know, even endogenously-produced vitamin A (retinol) might antagonize vitamin D absorption. Maybe someone else here knows more about this.

The magnesium is not surprising, because almost everyone's diet is probably deficient in magnesium these days. But not to worry about sweet potatoes. IMO they are your friend. Just don't take any supplemental vitamin A in the form of retinol.

Tex

[Gabes-Apg]

My query is based on the integrity of the app.. And the calculations it is doing.

If you have zinc rich item at same time as iron rich item, you don't get the full amount of zinc, is it making adjustments for this??

Are the amounts the same for all ages? Ie, do they make adjustments to absorption rates based on age, if person has IBD etc.


It is near impossible for a Mc'er to get adequate Vit D3 and Magnesium from food alone. Which is why supplementation is so important to attain wellness.

[JFR]

Cronometer uses established nutrition databases to get their values. You can choose for each individual food what data base you want to use. The most frequent one used is the USDA. They don't pretend to tell you anything about how your body utilizes the nutrients or how the nutrients interact and effect each other just as they don't indicate how a value may vary depending on the soil it was grown in. Their info is only as good as the database info, nothing more nothing less, and no doubt the databases are flawed.

I think it is the best nutrition calculator out there. That does not mean that you can take their info as sacrosanct. I use it just to get a sense of my nutrient intake while still realizing that the databases utilized are not perfect nor are the RDA's the end all and be all of nutritional wisdom.

Jean

[tex]

Jean,

That certainly makes sense.

Thanks.

Tex

[nerdhume]

Jean, you are right the app just adds all the nutritional value from the USDA for each food/quantity eaten.
I am trying to use it to be sure I am supplementing in the right areas. I also understand this is just what is in the food and not any indication of my ability to digest and use the nutrients.
I got my book "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" and finished reading it yesterday. To be compliant with SCD I would have to give up sweet potatoes, as well as regular potatoes. The author actually claims this is a CURE for IBD. One year to clear the symptoms and another year to heal.
I plan to start SCD strictly after my cruise (April 11-16). This will be different than my current diet because it doesn't allow any grains of any kind. Goodbye Rice Chex and Corn Chex....

[JFR]

This is from the World's Healthiest Foods website:

"While vitamin A toxicity can be a problem for our health, it comes from improper use of retinoid-containing supplements, not from our diet. Most causes of vitamin A toxicity are due to accidental ingestion of supplemental doses exceeding 660,000 IU (200,000 mcg retinol equivalents) and 330,000 IU (100,000 mcg retinol equivalents) by adults and children, respectively. "

The site also has a long article on vitamin A:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... t&dbid=106

My vitamin A level always comes out high too. I don't worry about it because it is all from food.

Jean

[nerdhume]

Thanks Jean, good to know. If I give up sweet potatoes then carrots will probably be a daily thing :-)

[tex]

The author actually claims this is a CURE for IBD.

Breaking the Vicious Cycle was published over 20 years ago, and it definitely broke new ground and changed the way some people think about treating IBDs. But it has some obvious flaws. And if someone (anyone) had actually been "cured" of an IBD since then, wouldn't we have read about it here, in view of all the members who take time daily to search the Internet for news about BDs? It wouldn't be easy to keep an experience such as that a secret.

Remission? Sure. Happens all the time. Cured? Ummm. Paint me totally skeptical.

Tex

[nerdhume]

I am skeptical too.
It does explain why I seem to do better when I eat 'real' food rather than the 'gluten free' imitations. I believe this is a common mistake of newbies, it's much better to stick to foods that only have 1 or 2 ingredients.

If the remission is deep enough to add back most foods then I would call that a 'cure'. It would be close enough to one for me

This book is the 2004 reprint with some updated research and even mentions Freeda Vitamins.

[tex]

It does explain why I seem to do better when I eat 'real' food rather than the 'gluten free' imitations. I believe this is a common mistake of newbies, it's much better to stick to foods that only have 1 or 2 ingredients.

You're right on target there. That was one of my biggest hangups when I was still sorting out my diet. I mistakenly thought that foods labeled as GF, DF, SF, etc., were actually safe. I learned the hard way that most of them are not, and cooking from scratch was the only logical way to go about it.

If the remission is deep enough to add back most foods then I would call that a 'cure'.

I would call that stable remission. If one could eat and do whatever one pleased, without any risk of a relapse, then that would define a "cured" state (IMO). But as long as remission is contingent upon a permanent diet change or maintenance doses of one or more medications, that falls short of the definition of a cure.

Sure, stable remission is absolutely the next best possibility, and it's the way that I and many others here live, but I don't consider myself "cured", because far too many things can trigger a relapse. Remember that my last reaction was triggered by a second kidney stone. On the other hand, I consider myself very lucky that even though the flu caused D, it did not trigger an MC reaction.

The point is, the disease is always there, waiting to pounce if an opportunity presents itself.

Tex

[nerdhume]

The point is, the disease is always there, waiting to pounce if an opportunity presents itself.

Tex, you are absolutely right about that. It is a hard thing to face when first dx. Just glad we are able to get most of our life back.