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Skin, Hair & Nails
Vitamin A: The Vitamin That Helps Reduce Sun-Related Skin Damage
Summer's here and the time is right for going on holiday to soak up some healthy sunlight that will prompt your body to manufacture vitamin D. The trick, however, is getting just the right amount of sun exposure: enough to enhance your supply of D, but not so much that you burn your skin. Inevitably, however, we sometimes linger too long at the beach and come home with sunburn.
When skin is damaged by occasional sunburns, the stage is set for the development of actinic keratoses (AK) later in life. AK shows up as lesions that are precursors of the two most common types of cancer: nonmelanoma squamous cell or basal cell cancer.
But a new study demonstrates that if you're one of the millions who have this sort of skin damage, you may substantially lower your risk of developing skin cancer by increasing your intake of one key vitamin.
Bumping up the dose
In a recent issue of Clinical Cancer Research, US scientists at the Arizona Cancer Centre, University of Arizona (UA), note that a previous study conducted at UA showed that vitamin A supplements significantly reduced the risk of squamous cell skin cancer in patients with moderately severe AK.
The vitamin A dose used in that study was 25,000 IU. So the UA team designed another study to test higher doses for both safety and efficacy.
Nearly 130 subjects with severely sun-damaged skin on their forearms were divided into four groups to receive daily doses of 25,000, 50,000, or 75,000 IU of vitamin A, or a placebo. Biopsies were conducted on the damaged skin of each patient before the study period began, and then again, one year later, at the end of the study.
The effects of one year of vitamin A supplementation were dramatic:
- Placebo subjects: 25 percent had less skin damage when their pre-test and post-test biopsies were compared
- 25,000 IU subjects: 65 percent had less skin damage
- 50,000 IU subjects: 81 percent had less skin damage
- 75,000 IU subjects: 79 percent had less skin damage
Needless to say, the researchers concluded that 50,000 IU of vitamin A is the maximum daily dose required for the most effective protection for sun-damaged skin.
No significant toxic reactions were reported in any of the four groups. But side effects sometimes occur with prolonged use of vitamin A at very high doses, so usage should be monitored by a doctor. Smokers and heavy drinkers are most susceptible to vitamin A toxicity.
Checking the sources
Here are some simple guidelines for getting adequate amounts of vitamin A:
- The problems with vitamin A toxicity are associated with supplements of synthetic vitamin A taken in high doses
- Fruits and vegetables with orange and yellow colouring, and green leafy vegetables contain beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A
- The best source of vitamin A is animal products, such as eggs and liver
- Cod liver oil is an excellent natural source of vitamin A
If you follow these vitamin A basics, you can't go wrong.
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