50 million Americans are believed to suffer from acne, which is roughly 16% of the population.
An estimated 45% of the overall populationis unable to get enough Vitamin A from fruits and vegetables due to genetic factors.The implications of thisare massive and unknown by the general public.
One of Vitamin As main purposes is the maintenance of healthy skin this should be a commonly known fact in the acne community since the strongest acne drug in the world, Isotretinoin - is based on Vitamin A.
In the most frequently used database for nutritional information USDA, which is the default result in the Google search engine, carrots, for example, are shown to have a 334% daily value of vitamin A for 100. grams.
This is simply incorrect information. Carrots contain the precursor to Vitamin A, beta-carotene - which is what 45% of people are unable to convert to Vitamin A due to aforementioned genetic factors.
The 45% of people that do not get enough vitamin A out of fruits and vegetableshave to get it from other sources.
The main sources outside of fruits and vegetables are : Liver, Cod liver oil andbutter.
But how many people actually have these things as a part of their diet?
45% of people cant convert beta-carotene to Vitamin A, which is 143/318 million people.(U.S)
35% people, or the 50 million out of those 143 million people suffer from acne.
That would mean that 35% of people dont have these food products listed above as a consistent part of their diet.
Does that sound infeasible?
The most efficient cure for acne is the drug isotretinoin, which consists of ludicrously high doses of Vitamin A.
These doses arent needed to treatacne, but only the daily recommended intake of Vitamin A which is 3-10k IU for men and a little less for women.
Are you converting beta-carotene from fruits and vegetables into Vitamin A? Are you eating enough butter, liver or any other good sources of Vitamin A?
Have yourself checked by a doctor to see if you are among those deficient in the ability to convert beta-carotene to Vitamin A. Odds are that if you are an acne sufferer you are simply not getting your daily required intake of Vitamin A.
Sources :
http://www.ion.ac.uk/blog/anonymous/tue-2014-06-17-0954/are-you-converting-enough-beta-carotene-vitamin-55-people-may-not
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11976165
http://blog.mariobadescu.com/acne-by-the-numbers-9-statistics-about-acne-infographic/
On 4/23/2016 at 0:35 AM, DeLovely said:Wow, this is very interesting. I usually give my son 2 whole carrots daily since this provides about 10,000 IUs of vitamin A daily needed for calming acne inflammation. I hope he is getting the vitamin A!!!!
Thanks for your response DeLovely, it's nice to see a responsible adult like you who actually cares for their children's future. However in light of the information i have given, you should definitely see your family doctor and cite the research that i pointed out in the second source i listed and make sure that your son is able to utilize the beta-carotene from the carrots.
13 minutes ago, denehiel said:Thanks for your response DeLovely, it's nice to see a responsible adult like you who actually cares for their children's future. However in light of the information i have given, you should definitely see your family doctor and cite the research that i pointed out in the second source i listed and make sure that your son is able to utilize the beta-carotene from the carrots.
This info could affect my son as he lacks the enzymes to break down certain B vitamins, namely folic acid, into their useable forms. This enzyme deficiency caused all kinds of neurological problems until the source of the problem was identified. Now he takes activated B vitamins prescribed by his doctor which don't need to be broken down first. So an enzyme deficiency related to vitamin A is certainly worth exploring.
Thanks for this information! 