A fun fact about vitamin A supplementation is it can kill you - ThreadSky

kendrawrites.com • 6 hours ago

A fun fact about vitamin A supplementation is it can kill you

In the CDC’s first public statement on the measles outbreak, it suggested vitamin A as a type of supportive care.

Here's what to know:

Comments

drunk-ukrainian.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Fun fact: some animals' livers, such as the polar bear, are toxic enough that half a kilogram is enough to kill from a vitamin A overdose.

drunk-ukrainian.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Fun fact: if you, in order to survive the frigid wilderness, eat a polar bear's liver, you will die from vitamin A overdose with just a spoonful.

cageyratfish.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Fortunately there's plenty of the rest of the bear to eat, & you could even make a little shelter for yourself inside its corpse to keep warm

cageyratfish.bsky.social•5 hours ago

PS: congrats on defeating the bear

kevdog.bsky.social•5 hours ago

cageyratfish.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Alas, i am experiencing some kind of glitch that has disabled gifs & embedded videos in bluesky for me. (no, this is not a request for advice; yes i have checked that my media settings are correct) it's something that just started happening a few days ago without my changing anything on my end.

kevdog.bsky.social•5 hours ago

I was having similar problems, they seem to be related to using a VPN. Deleting a VPN app cleared up my issue.

cageyratfish.bsky.social•3 hours ago

it's weird, i've tried with and without the VPN & it's not like this was happening before with the VPN active. i have a paid subscription to the one i use so i'm not about to just delete it. I also feel naked if it's turned off, lol.

I've got weird lags happening too, super slow refresh etc. Odd

wendelschwab.bsky.social•49 minutes ago

I don't know if you can see the alt-text or whatever, but if not: it's a .gif of the scene from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back where Han puts Luke inside the tauntaun and says "And I thought they smelled bad on the outside."

wendelschwab.bsky.social•52 minutes ago

I'm mad at you because I wanted to make that reference. 😡

drunk-ukrainian.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Errata: it's 500g, which is still a nice breakfast.

abbaetha.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Yes! I wrote this elsewhere too! No arctic animal livers! Because of the horrible death!

nefariousnautilus.bsky.social•3 hours ago

Wait, don’t Indigenous people eat seal livers? Or is it something else?

abbaetha.bsky.social•3 hours ago

I think they avoided the livers while eating the rest of the meat, but not 100% sure.

hoodooharry.bsky.social•4 hours ago

99% certain I died from polar bear wounds.

whetstone.bsky.social•43 minutes ago

that explains why somebody was suggesting telling elon musk that the woke soy boys are trying to keep people from eating polar bear livers, i didn’t get it

whetstone.bsky.social•41 minutes ago

found it, it was this genius

michael-w-busch.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Things one may be taught in wilderness survival courses in Minnesota: "be sure to remove the liver when cleaning a fish, so that you do not get too much retinol."

communknitst.bsky.social•2 hours ago

How to Cook That on youtube just did a video about this, it's so informative (and terrifying 🥲)
https://youtu.be/7W4E43MXPto?si=lnxSSJaiz-e6yetF

jenelaina.bsky.social•6 hours ago

That article REALLY took its time to get to that rather important detail

kendrawrites.com•5 hours ago

Yeah I got a ways in and didn't see it and was like uhm I need to flag that.

2ndbfastallday.bsky.social•3 hours ago

Fb mom groups are already pulled of women saying "people only get measles if they're malnourished and it's easy to treat with vitamin A" it's ivermectin all over again.

pavlovcat.bsky.social•3 hours ago

I saw a tiktok earlier of a mom asking for advice. Her kids aren't vaxxed because they live in the country and she didn't feel they'd be exposed to much (sigh) but she was rethinking that. There were so many fuckers in the comments telling her to rely on Vitamin A and cod liver oil.

floresgardens.bsky.social•3 hours ago

Turn back time 🙄

johnkaprielian.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Ah, nice to see the CDC is giving helpful advice now... :(

puckthepilot.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Wait, you mean Vitamin A isn't "Anti-sickness"

-Someone in charge, probably.

subtlefire.bsky.social•2 hours ago

A because it's the first thing you should try!
/sarc obviously

kendrawrites.com•5 hours ago

If you are pregnant it can also cause birth defects.

And the reason I know this is because like a lot of people I took Accutane as a young person to fight acne and Accutane is a derivative of vitamin A and if you've got a uterus you have to take 2 forms of BC to take accutance

alisonborealis.bsky.social•5 hours ago

AND like bi-weekly pregnancy tests, just to prove it. 🙃

kendrawrites.com•5 hours ago

Yep like, what are THEY doing here?

alisonborealis.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Is it malice or ignorance or both?

kendrawrites.com•5 hours ago

I cannot say.

freetomeow.bsky.social•1 hour ago

Elon called us the parasite class.

kendrawrites.com•5 hours ago

Vitamin A is not a vitamin you fuck around with unless you are deficient and even then you don't do it outside of strict medical supervision with someone who knows what they are doing. Potassium is another one.

cathyw.bsky.social•3 hours ago

parents starting their babies on solids are warned not to feed orange vegetables (carrots, squash, sweet potatoes) too often for this reason! the dose is based on body weight so a much smaller amount will be harmful to a child.

kendrawrites.com•2 hours ago

A girl in HS turned orange cause she ate too many carrots but you know she could handle it (and she cut back)

shoutingboy.bsky.social•5 hours ago

The authors of the statement are going to shrug and say "well, we *did* say 'may be appropriate' and 'under the care of a physician'".

They know damned well the statement will be shared with comments like "The CDC says fight measles with vitamin A!", though.

thecorrection.bsky.social•5 hours ago

I once got cracking of the corners of the lips and after I looked up the vitamin A toxicity symptom list, I quit taking vitamin A supplements.

abbaetha.bsky.social•5 hours ago

I know this from my 19c polar exploration books: you shouldn’t eat the livers of arctic animals because they have a lot of vitamin A and you will die. The end.

jaderobin.bsky.social•4 hours ago

I had read that specifically about polar bear livers. There is zero amount that is safe to eat as they are so saturated with vitamin A.

abbaetha.bsky.social•4 hours ago

I’ve seen it said also of those of seals, walruses, and other Arctic animals.

I don’t plan to experiment and find out! 😳

calyps09.bsky.social•33 minutes ago

Fun fact- carotenoids (like beta carotene) are a precursor to vitamin A. They allow your body to make it AND it doesn’t result in toxicity.

So I guess the safe alternative is eat a lot of veggies?

pronounced-ing.bsky.social•3 hours ago

And it kills you so so grossly! For anyone who has never heard about it:

kendrawrites.com•2 hours ago

What are they doing Celeste? Like wtf.

mariavictoria.bsky.social•1 hour ago

I feared they might do away with vaccines at some point, I did not expect the CDC advising something so potentially dangerous....

rsgat.bsky.social•2 hours ago

Not to sound glib, but I did not expect fascism to be stupid in quite this way.

kendrawrites.com•2 hours ago

Like why was I smarter at 19 then these people are as adults with decision making authority?

rsgat.bsky.social•2 hours ago

Like, I expected the bigotry toward folks who aren't them. But the gratuitous stupid shit that harms them too? That is a surprise. It's like if they insisted that hammering in screws or not tucking the shower curtain liner inside the tub was a core tenet of patriotism.

pb102.bsky.social•2 hours ago

I was just listening to Neil Shubin's new Ends of the Earth book where he talks about this very thing less than an hour ago. It's going to be so bad.

abbaetha.bsky.social•3 hours ago

I don’t know this particular grisly arctic exploration story but I am familiar with many others. 📌

pronounced-ing.bsky.social•3 hours ago

SO many of those. This one is particularly about the results of excess vitamin A 😱

abbaetha.bsky.social•3 hours ago

There was one I recall where someone ate polar bear liver and it didn’t go well.

ifight4them.bsky.social•2 hours ago

Ah cool! I'm gunna learn about hypervitaminosis!

k1nghandy.bsky.social•41 minutes ago

Wild, pulled off like socks

wesbarton.bsky.social•2 hours ago

Yeah, I can never hear about vitamin A without thinking “your feet come off like socks”

sleepyredpanda.bsky.social•3 hours ago

got to the description in the second paragraph of what his feet were like, and i already want to never eat vitamin A again 😭

amandahcarroll.bsky.social•2 hours ago

📌

skwinnicki.bsky.social•5 hours ago

I was just having this conversation today because I’m seeing clear symptoms my potassium is running low and it’s just not one I’m comfortable supplementing without strict medical oversight.

Luckily potato chips are a great source and already in my cupboard.

kendrawrites.com•5 hours ago

I can't eat bananas so I make a potassium drink that is like beet juice, tart cherry juice and coconut water.

polerin.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Fuck ok that sounds tasty

kendrawrites.com•5 hours ago

it is! I like making my medicine into a treat. And I think 6 ounces has around 2/3 as much potassium as a banana. Not perfect but since the other ways I get potassium are savory (potatoes and squash mostly) having a low sodium route is useful for me

skwinnicki.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Smart! That sounds very yummy too all things considered (I’ve had to consume some particularly not-yummy concoctions to get nutrients lol)

kendrawrites.com•5 hours ago

I like it! But I like beets. And yeah that was kind of my goal. It's like for days when I like don't even want french fries. I also use a potassium salt blend recommended by my doctor as a table salt (it's half sodium chloride/half potassium chloride)

scottjohnson.wtf•5 hours ago

Potassium is nothing to mess with

skwinnicki.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Yeah at the end of the day I really like having a functioning heart!

meagerskeets.bsky.social•2 hours ago

During my first anxiety attack, I didn't know it was that so I went to Urgent Care for tachycardia. They punted me to the ER, who did a battery of blood tests. Ultimately I was fine, but low in potassium. The nurses on staff made it VERY clear that the K supplements they gave me stop when I run out.

offgridteacher.bsky.social•4 hours ago

Yeah, I was thankful I learned this before I even conceived and was able to be careful. That’s why Retin-A and other retinols are a no-go as well.

lelielle.bsky.social•5 hours ago

I'm on a skincare reddit and there's lots of pregnant people regularly asking about alternatives to retinol, even otc stuff is no-no

kendrawrites.com•5 hours ago

yep

cabell.bsky.social•4 hours ago

To be clear, we don’t have much if any direct evidence that OTC topical retinoids are actually dangerous in pregnancy—but that’s largely bc the oral ones are so bad that no one is going to FAFO.

shoutingboy.bsky.social•5 hours ago

what if you combine vitamin A with ivermectin and colloidal silver, tho

disasterin.bsky.social•3 hours ago

I think that’s when you get the superpowers

daviskyle.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Not a very fun fact tbh.

kendrawrites.com•5 hours ago

I mean none of my fun facts are fun.

vfmcneill.bsky.social•5 hours ago

It's right there in your handle!

mstiahmarie.bsky.social•2 hours ago

I saw the headline and went, “Not water soluble.”

kmfao.bsky.social•4 hours ago

Yeah, my dermatologist specifically told me not to take any more vitamin A for my rosacea after I finished accutane, just a little topical serum

It's not something to fuck with!

puffin1962.bsky.social•5 hours ago

The kind guys who think eating polar bear livers sounds like a great idea

puffin1962.bsky.social•5 hours ago

I mean I guess you wouldn't see any measles spots after your skin sluft off...

chisaifirefly.bsky.social•5 hours ago

fucking hell. The CDC should know what works!!! The vaccine! It's like 97% effective at PREVENTING measles. Which also means little kids who haven't had the full sequence and immunocompromised folks are ALSO protected since it's not spreading wildly in communities.

jmalkin.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Maybe those infants just need to make healthier lifestyle choices. They're too sedentary, probably not even getting 12 hours of tummy time daily.

kendrawrites.com•5 hours ago

yeah but something something we've always had measles, what's a little brain damage and death?

oasisbysea.bsky.social•5 hours ago

Millions of people around the world are in the process of dying, and the mainstream media couldn't even put it on the front page. It's on like 6th page of NYTimes.

choirchic.bsky.social•3 hours ago

Oh gosh. People are going to go out and start taking it just from that headline. Just. Eeek. No. So bad.

redfalconfni.bsky.social•3 hours ago

Wellllllll thank you for this information, because I was taking a total 5700mcg daily...

stealingsand.bsky.social•4 hours ago

The hydrochloroquine (sp?) of measles

kendrawrites.com•4 hours ago

Only worse because when that was floated we had no good treatments but we have an effective vaccine for measels.

stealingsand.bsky.social•4 hours ago

TRUE

brassclothes.bsky.social•4 hours ago

“Anti-vaccine influencers and organizations, including [RFK Jr.] have for years rallied around vitamin A as *protection against* and treatment for measles” [emphasis mine]. “During outbreaks, anti-vaccine groups have organized drives to fundraise and send vitamin A to affected communities.”

earballs.bsky.social•5 hours ago

The poor buzzards.

shiplives.bsky.social•4 hours ago

Good grief. It can cause birth defects, all sorts of problems — that’s why anyone who eats an even remotely “normal” diet should never take supplements.

These are absolutely the worst dipshits to be in charge of public health.

kendrawrites.com•4 hours ago

Even by that metric A is dangerous, unlike say popping a little biotin.

shiplives.bsky.social•4 hours ago

That’s what I’m saying! Nobody needs to take more A than they get from just eating food. It’s not like vitamin C.

ouinne.bsky.social•3 hours ago

Even vitamin C can interact with the uptake of some prescription medications, supplements can be really bad, even ones we all think are fine!

endmetothemoon.bsky.social•3 hours ago

Another fun fact: this article obviously plays up the Vit A angle, and has a doctor quoted as saying they wished the CDC had said the MMR vaccine was most effective treatment

....except they did. In the sentence immediately prededing the Vit A supplement.

There's some shenanigans from NBC here

justostrich.com•6 hours ago

It can do it really fast too! There's a reason you don't eat the livers of carnivorous animals.

ghostyspook.bsky.social•5 hours ago

If someone on a podcast tells rfk that livers of carnivorous animals are healthy he’ll probably keel over in no time

justostrich.com•6 hours ago

And actually they thought the LD50 for Vitamin D was much lower because it was originally tested using Cod Liver Oil, which is high in Vitamin A

kendrawrites.com•5 hours ago

This is literally medical malpractice. He KNOWS people are going to take it as protection and some of them are going to die.

disasterin.bsky.social•3 hours ago

This is astoundingly dangerous messaging. When do they start advocating for bloodletting and mercury treatment?

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