Vitamin A for measles: no for prevention, yes for treatment
Nutritionist that I am, I was shocked to see this headline: Remedy Supported by Kennedy Leaves Some Measles Patients More Ill
Physicians at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, say they’ve now treated a handful of unvaccinated children who were given so much vitamin A that they had signs of liver damage. Some of them had received unsafe doses of cod liver oil and other vitamin A supplements for several weeks in an attempt to prevent a measles infection.
Vitamin A toxicity? Two reasons for my shock:
- Vitamin a toxicity is extremely rare. Amounts typically in food never cause problems except when people eat polar bear or seal liver (or, in one instance, dog liver). Even supplements cause only occasional cases. The New York Times last reported a case of a child overdosing on vitamin A supplements in 1981.
- These children were given way too much Vitamin A for way too long.
The deal on Vitamin A and measles
- Vitamin A will not prevent measles; vaccinations prevent measles.
- Vitamin A is, however, used to treat active cases of measles.
- The treatment involves two doses of vitamin A, one day apart.
- The amounts depend on the age of the child.
Rationale for use of Vitamin A to treat measles
- The World Health Organization recommends vitamin A for all children with acute measles, regardless of country of residence
- Children in the US can have low serum vitamin A concentrations
- Low vitamin A concentrations correlate with more severe measles disease
- Measles virus can deplete vitamin A stores
- In low- and middle-income countries, vitamin A is associated with decreased mortality and morbidity
Comment
- When RFK Jr recommends vitamin A for measles treatment, he is repeating standard advice.
- When he states or implies that vitamin A should be routinely supplemented, or used as a preventive measure for measles rather than vaccination, he puts sick children at serious risk of vitamin A overdose and toxicity.
- He should not recommend or imply that vitamin A is a substitute for measles vaccination.
- When he recommends vitamin A treatment for measles, he should insist on limiting supplements to two doses.
- Measles is preventable with vaccination.
- Vitamin A toxicity is preventable by avoiding supplements or using them only when needed and in appropriate amounts.
- Animal foods are the best sources of Vitamin A; brightly colored vegetables are the best sources of the Vitamin A precursor, beta-carotene.
References
- Vitamin A for treating measles in children
- Call to Action: Vitamin A for the Management of Measles in the United States
- Vitamin A Toxicity
- Overdose of Vitamin A Nearly Kills 3-Year-Old (1981)
- The vitamin A content and toxicity of bear and seal
- Death by Nutrition: How an Antarctic scientific expedition turned deadly thanks to an unlikely source: dog liver.