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Page 179
| Vitamin A |
| The National Research Council reported that vitamin A was able to suppress chemically induced tumors in lab animals, and numerous other researchers have shown its anticarcinogenic effect. 5 Vitamin A may interfere with the mutation of cells that have been exposed to carcinogens, either by inhibiting enzymes that activate chemicals to their carcinogenic form or by stimulating immune responses. |
| On the basis of epidemiologic and experimental evidence of the anti-cancer activity of vitamin A when used in high doses, a clinical trial was conducted at the National Cancer Institute in Milan to determine whether vitamin A administration could reduce the occurrence of cancer relapses within three years and/or the occurrence of new primary tumors beyond three years. In this study, postsurgical lung cancer patients were given vitamin A in doses of 300,000 IU daily for a period of fourteen months. At the time of analysis, there was a relapse rate of 18 percent in the treated group and 28 percent in the control group. The largest difference between the groups was observed for bone metastases (two versus seven) and brain metastases (three versus six), and only two new cases of primary cancer were detected, both in the control group.6 |
| A randomized study of 307 surgically cured lung cancer patients receiving 300,000 IU of vitamin A daily for twelve months versus a group taking no supplements, found that 37 percent of the supplemented group and 48 percent of the control group developed new primary tumors. The tumor-free interval was significantly longer in the group receiving vitamin A. Further, primary tumors developed in eighteen supplemented patients and twenty-nine control patients. This study confirms that high doses and prolonged administration of vitamin A can effectively reduce the incidence of new primary minors and increase the rumor-free interval in heavy smokers surgically cured of lung cancer.7,8 Note: Dosages over 50,000 IU should be taken only under the supervision of a health care professional. |
| I usually recommend vitamin A in mycellized form. When the body is fighting an illness, is under stress, or is simply aging, it loses its ability to manufacture its own mycelles, the basic unit of absorption for vitamins A, D, E, and K, beta-carotene, essential fatty acids, and lecithin. Mycellization is a natural process of manufacturing water-soluble fat for easy absorption. |
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