I see a pattern here. Many people run into immnunity issues. Could this be an increased need for vitamin A and Zinc?As a guinea pig, I must report that my test on the K-2 supplement was aborted after a week due to catching a cold.
More likely I caught the cold because I went to the doctor's office and urgent care trying to get some testing done. Those places are full of super bugs.I see a pattern here. Many people run into immnunity issues. Could this be an increased need for vitamin A and Zinc?
On the 8th I took one 75 mcg Healthspan (supposedly a reputable brand) K2 (M-7), but I have been really weird since and hope it wears off. My eyesight has been even more dodgy than usual. It's a good thing I didn't take one a day! I decided that one every 7 days was enough to start with, and unless it was something else I don't want to take it again! I'm really not with it. I'm a vegan by the way, with cats (who aren't).More likely I caught the cold because I went to the doctor's office and urgent care trying to get some testing done. Those places are full of super bugs.
While I was there the doc agreed to test my vitamin A&D levels and both came out in the normal range...finally. It took a whole lot of liver eating and D3 supplementation to achieve this. So the vitamin K2 did not deplete these two. I don't know where I was on the zinc. However I started doing zinc lozenges as soon as I realized I was probably catching a cold and that stopped the sore throat within 24. I am doing much better now taking the Wellness Formula. Thank you much for checking.
Do you treat your nuts, seeds, grains, legumes to reduce phytates? The top most important nutrients for eye health are Zinc (poorly available from plants due to phytates) and vitamin A (not present in plants - conversion from carotenoids might be sub-optimal).I'm a vegan by the way
No, I don't, but I take multivitamins, and I've been vegan since 1983, so I don't expect to be short of anything.Do you treat your nuts, seeds, grains, legumes to reduce phytates? The top most important nutrients for eye health are Zinc (poorly available from plants due to phytates) and vitamin A (not present in plants - conversion from carotenoids might be sub-optimal).
This could be a zinc deficiency. I get it whenever I up my intake of plant protein despite eating plenty of animal protein daily. It seems pretty easy to inhibit Zinc absorption as we get older and sickerMy concentration has become very poor too
I get 11 mg zinc from my main supplement, about 7-11 mg from my mineral supplement. That should be enough, surely.This could be a zinc deficiency. I get it whenever I up my intake of plant protein despite eating plenty of animal protein daily. It seems pretty easy to inhibit Zinc absorption as we get older and sicker
No, I don't, but I take multivitamins, and I've been vegan since 1983, so I don't expect to be short of anything.
My eyesight was fine until the last year (with glasses), I should have said. It's recently been getting worse, and I don't know if it's temporary or if I need to see an optician. My concentration has become very poor too, so I don't like going anywhere where I have to think.
I do mind eating fish! So do most of the veggies and vegans in the world.That sounds a whole lot like what I went through I thought I was covered on vitamin A with my supplements...
so I long failed to look into vitamin A and suffered serious snowballing consequences.
But, check your vitamin bottle to see what the contents really are. You will probably find their vitamin A is actually carotene. That is not Vitamin A despite what the label says. Carotene converts very poorly, at about 3%, to vitamin A, or not even that. An estimated 45% of us do NOT convert carotene to vitamin A at all. I discovered that I'm one of those folks.
Vitamin A is required for vision. Liver is the major dietary source of it. Vitamin A is also the anti-infection vitamin...
Sorry to say but true vitamin A is not in plant foods. If you don't mind eating fish, you might try getting a quality cod liver oil...
Do you have a link for the info about poor converters?
Not due to a hole in the retina, I hope.My eyesight has been even more dodgy than usual.
I think this has been posted before because I remember reading it and seeing that the person used the same brand as I did, which seems to be too potent/toxic. I tried a dose 3x larger from Thorne and noticed no benefits or side effects other than insomnia.Not due to a hole in the retina, I hope.
@MeSci Frankly I very much agree. Further, I would also rather not eat plants which cannot scream, run or fight. (At least they have thorns and make chemical weapons for self defense.) Sadly I am not able to survive on minerals and water.I do mind eating fish! So do most of the veggies and vegans in the world.
Do you have a link for the info about poor converters?
Normal absorption of carotenoids is minimal: ... even under optimal circumstances, only 3% or less of carotenoids converts to vitamin A. Further, recent advocacy of vitamin D supplementation needs to be in a balanced ratio with vitamin A for health, however the current recommendation of increasing D, usually ignores the consequential need for increased true vitamin A.
The challenge to reach nutritional adequacy for vitamin A: β-carotene bioavailability and conversion—evidence in humans
October 10, 2012
1,2,3,4 Marjorie J Haskell The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/96/5/1193S.full
10731492
...an estimated half the population may be genetically unable to convert carotene to vitamin A...
The richest dietary source of true vitamin A is found in liver. True vitamin A (aka preformed vitamin A) is found in lesser amounts in full fat milk, butter, and eggs, which however, are often avoided by many individuals worried about weight, cholesterol, or due to taste aversion, vegan diets...Common Genetic Variants and Other Host-related Factors Greatly Increase Susceptibility to Vitamin A Deficiency
by Lara Pizzorno, MDiv, MA, LMT
http://www.lmreview.com/articles/vi...ibility-to-vitamin-a-deficiency/#fn-ref-113-3 "In his presentation at the 2nd Hohenheim Nutrition Conference in Stuttgart, Germany, November 2009, Dr. Georg Lietz of England's Newcastle University, the senior investigator in research published April 2009 in the FASEB Journal (and summarized in our June 2009 LMR review, “Vitamin A – Tolerance Extends Longevity”), reported that a high percentage of women in the UK are at risk of vitamin A deficiency. Two common genetic variants greatly lessen the body’s ability to convert beta-carotene into vitamin A."
http://www.lmreview.com/articles/view/vitamin-a-tolerance-extends-longevity/ Search your own genetic data. Genetic SNPs identified as involving carotene conversion or non-conversion, can be found by querying snpedia for carotene:
http://www.snpedia.com/index.php?title=Special:Search&search=carotene&go=Go "Genetic polymorphisms also affect the vitamin A equivalency of β-carotene. Recently, 2 common genetic polymorphisms of the BCMO1 gene were identified and were associated with a reduction in intestinal conversion of β-carotene to vitamin A of ∼32–69% in UK women . This recent finding may account for much of the observed interindividual variability in estimates of the vitamin A equivalency of β-carotene in human populations."
Leung WC, Hessel S, Meplan C, Flint J, Oberhauser V, Tourniaire F, Hesketh JE, von Lintig J, Lietz G. Two common single nucleotide polymorphisms in the gene encoding beta-carotene 15,15 '-monoxygenase alter beta-carotene metabolism in female volunteers. FASEB Journal 2009, 23(4), 1041-1053. PMID: 1910364 http://www.fasebj.org/content/23/4/1041.abstract?ijkey=e256e5995f7c5c34aab8ed8f3ed9b9d70975b107&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha Inefficiencies of human carotene conversion to vitamin A:Kohlmeier RH. . “Vitamin A,” in “Fat soluble vitamins and non-nutrients,”. Nutrient Metabolism. Elsevier: London, p. 464-478..
I don't think so. I'm going to the doctor's on Monday so I will consult her. My eyesight seems to vary with time of day, so I don't think it's due to damage.Not due to a hole in the retina, I hope.
@realturbo You might be interested in this combo K2 supplement with co-factors:
MitoForce - Mitochondrial Energy Support - Nutritional Supplement ...
www.holisticheal.com/mitoforce-mitochondrial-support.html
Vitamin E (as Succinate), 8.3 IU. Vitamin K (as Phytonadione, Menaquinone-4 & Menaquinone-7, 95mcg. Vitamin B2 (as Riboflavin-5-phosphate), 3mg. Vitamin ...