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Consuming a diet rich in vitamin A or its analogs may help prevent children and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) reduce their risk of developing painful pancreas inflammation during chemotherapy treatment. For people with ALL, treatment with the enzyme asparaginase helps starve cancer cells by reducing the amount of asparagine circulating in the blood, which the cancer cells need but cannot make themselves. The medication, often used in combination with other chemotherapies, is given via injection into a vein, muscle, or under the skin. However, an estimated 2% to 10% of asparaginase users develop inflammation of the pancreas...

Research in a mouse model of diet-induced obesity has found greater disruption to genes involved in heart function when coupled with vitamin A deficiency using a combined dietary and genetic approach. The research team induced obesity in a mouse model of vitamin A deficiency. After 20 weeks, the researchers compared the hearts and metabolism of the mice to obese mice with sufficient levels of vitamin A. In comparison, the vitamin-deficient obese mice had repression of genes in the heart that are associated with extracting energy from fat, extracting energy from glucose, and the production of the energy-carrying molecule adenosine triphosphate....

Loss of smell is one of the main symptoms of COVID-19, alongside a loss of taste, persistent cough, and high temperature.A 12-week trial will look at whether nasal drops can help those who lost their sense of smell after having COVID-19. The "Apollo trial" will treat people who have experienced a loss of smell or altered sense of smell because of coronavirus using vitamin A nasal drops. The University of East Anglia (UEA) said research from Germany has shown the potential benefit of the vitamin, and its team "will explore how this treatment works to help repair tissues in the...

California's measles outbreak has climbed to 91 confirmed cases, prompting a vicious attack from USA Today contributor Alex Berezow against "anti-vaxxers." He blames them for the epidemic that CDC officials say was introduced at the Disneyland theme park by a person infected with measles overseas. Berezow's knee-jerk reaction is to declare, "Parents who do not vaccinate their children should go to jail." He erroneously maintains that measles could not spread in a fully vaccinated society and discredits as "ludicrous" concerns regarding the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. Claiming there is a "mountain of data" proving otherwise, his one and only...

The co-author of a book on partisan science recently examined by Pacific Standard argues that our reviewer was a little too partisan himself. Any book that touches upon politics almost automatically angers half of the American public, regardless of what is written inside of it. It takes a special person—an objective, open-minded and self-critical one—to read and learn from a science book that criticizes people with whom the reader likes and agrees with politically.Recently, Pacific Standard published a review (“Red Science, Blue Science,” January/February 2013) by Wray Herbert, a pop psychology writer,of political writer Chris Mooney’s book The Republican Brain...

Scientists say taking food supplements containing vitamin A can make people less likely to develop melanoma, the deadliest form of the disease. A study found that retinol - a key component of Vitamin A - could protect against the illness. The strongest protective effects were found in women and in sun exposed sites, suggesting retinol actually combats skin cancer. However, there was no association between dietary intake of vitamin A, found in liver, eggs and milk, and a reduction in risk. Their findings, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, found those who used retinol regularly were 60 per cent...

Vitamin A supplements to malnourished children worldwide could save 600,000 young lives a year, says study with strong Canadian connections that challenges the politics behind the controversial program. “This is a fundamental human rights issue,” bioethicist Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta told the Star on Monday. “I think further studies exposing large numbers of children are unethical,” he said. In 43 studies from 18 countries analyzed by Bhutta and his team, children given placebos rather than Vitamin A capsules were at 27 per cent higher risk of dying from diarrhea and suffered 50 per cent more cases of measles and far more...

Almost half of UK women could be suffering from a lack of vitamin A due to a previously undiscovered genetic variation, scientists at Newcastle University have found. The team, led by Dr Georg Lietz, has shown that almost 50 per cent of women have a genetic variation which reduces their ability to produce sufficient amounts of vitamin A from beta-carotene. Vitamin A – also known as retinol – plays a vital role in strengthening our immune system, protecting us against common infections such as flu and winter vomiting. Vitamin A also helps to maintain healthy skin and mucus linings such...

ALERT - Vitamin A is probably simple antidote to bird flu, mainstream literature shows Hold those billions, Vitamin A blocks bird flu lung devastationNew AIDS Review - 11/20/2005All the panic over H5N1 seems a little overblown when you consider that the virus has been around for eight years at least without morphing into a deadly human version that can sweep the globe from human to human. The very same H5N1 was the cause of the "Avian flu" outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997. But just to reduce the hysteria a few more notches, we have decided to relent on our...

Vitamin K is absolutely essential to build strong bones -- and it is proven to prevent heart disease. For several years, compelling evidence has shown that most people don't get enough vitamin K to protect their health through the foods they eat.Green leafy vegetables supply almost half of the vitamin K for the majority of Americans. Most foods considered rich in vitamin K have shown to have less vitamin K than previously thought. Despite this vital information, the majority of multi-vitamins don't contain any vitamin K at all -- and those that do don't contain enough.Recent research supporting vitamin...

It has long been suspected that vitamin A may be linked to cancer prevention. The mechanisms by which this may be happening, however, have yet to be understood. Conversely, scientists have discovered that a malfunction in the way the body processes vitamin A may be the culprit behind the formation of breast cancer. Vitamin A, or retinol, can be found in a number of food products, such as cod liver oil, milk, eggs and fruits and vegetables; however, too much vitamin A can be toxic to the body.Vitamin A Processing Once the vitamin enters the body, it is stored...