Too much of a good thing? Scientists explain cellular effects of vitamin A overdose and deficiency

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/foas-tmo100809.php

Public release date: 8-Oct-2009
Contact: Cody Mooneyhan
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Too much of a good thing? Scientists explain cellular effects of vitamin A overdose and deficiency
New research in the FASEB Journal suggests that vitamin A has essential functions in the regulation of energy production in all cells of the body

If a little vitamin A is good, more must be better, right? Wrong! New research published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) shows that vitamin A plays a crucial role in energy production within cells, explaining why too much or too little has a complex negative effect on our bodies. This is particularly important as combinations of foods, drinks, creams, and nutritional supplements containing added vitamin A make an overdose more possible than ever before.

"Our work illuminates the value and potential harm of vitamin A use in cosmetic creams and nutritional supplements," said Ulrich Hammerling, co-author of the study, from the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York. "Although vitamin A deficiency is not very common in our society, over-use of this vitamin could cause significant disregulation of energy production impacting cell growth and cell death."

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"Beauty might be only skin deep, but vitamin A isn't. It goes to the nucleus of our cells and can affect our health for better or worse," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal. "Using too many products enriched with vitamin A could lead to negative, even fatal, consequences."