High on Beta Carotene
Filed Under Dr. Zoltan Rona (MD) | Leave a Comment
A yellow-orange colored skin may not always be due to jaundice and liver disease. It is more frequently due to an excess of beta carotene, the pigment seen in carrots. People who consume large quantities of carrots or carrot juice or take beta carotene supplements may develop this condition (hypercarotenemia). Hypercarotenemia is easily distinguished from jaundice because the whites of the eye (sclera) remain white while they do not do so in cases of liver disease. People with true jaundice caused by liver problems have a yellow sclera (scleral icterus). Blood tests for liver function can be done to confirm this.
Millions of people in North America take supplements containing beta carotene. Carotenoids are a group of over 600 different pigments that are found naturally in dark green, red and yellow fat-soluble compounds. There are about 50 carotenoids that have provitamin A antioxidant activity. Alpha, gamma, and beta carotenes are converted primarily in the intestinal mucosa to vitamin A (retinol) with the help of enzymes dependent on zinc. Approximately 33% of beta carotene from food gets absorbed and only 33% of the absorbed beta carotene is converted to retinol.
Beta-carotene is only found in the plant kingdom and is a precursor to Vitamin A in the body. Vitamin A (retinol) is a fat-soluble vitamin found preformed in fish, dairy products and other animal products. Vitamin A is essential for normal growth, metabolism, vision, cell structure, the health of the bones and teeth, healthy skin as well as the protective linings of the digestive, respiratory, and urinary tracts.
In some people, beta carotene can accumulate in the body despite a low dietary intake. Beta carotene can be high when it is inhibited from being converted into vitamin A due to deficiencies in vitamin C, zinc, protein or thyroid hormone. These deficiencies and the resultant hypercarotenemia, are often seen in those suffering from malnutrition or anorexia nervosa. A carrot colored skin, in itself, is harmless but can be cosmetically distressing. Improving nutritional status or thyroid function usually reverses the problem.
Zinc, copper, selenium, iodine, tyrosine and adequate protein are all required to convert inactive thyroid hormone (T4) to active thyroid hormone (T3). The level of T4 and TSH may be normal on lab tests but this does not guarantee active thyroid hormone function which is largely determined by adequate levels of T3. Signs of suboptimal thyroid hormone function include fatigue, low basal body temperatures, multiple food sensitivities, hypercarotenemia, depression, mood swings, fluid retention, hair loss and possibly anorexia and high blood levels of cholesterol. Before deciding on any specific treatments, it would be a good idea to get some basic conventional medical lab tests done. These tests should help explain why carotene levels are high so that appropriate treatments can be prescribed by a qualified health care practitioner.
Dr. Rona
Choose to Live Your Best Life
Filed Under Law of Attraction | Leave a Comment
My beloved dog passed away about 3 weeks ago. I have learned so much from that experience and from my dog’s life, especially to “live well, feel good, don’t suffer, pass on perfectly, and come back soon – because life is fun.”
Some of us don’t like talking about dying and others are intrigued by it. We release all resistance when we die – and that’s a beautiful, peaceful thought. We’re sad when the people or animals around us die, but they would want us to truly live our lives, not waste time suffering over them.
As soon as you stop saying, “I wish they weren’t gone,” you’ll realize all is well and that they’re not gone – because they are around you in spirit whenever you think about them. You’ll realize that they’re fine AND it’s us who isn’t fine. Dying is good because there is great joy waiting there. But what’s even more fun, is LIFE when you actually choose to LIVE IT (as opposed to SURVIVING IT). Choose to live, as it’s a marvelous journey filled with incredible beauty, contrast, love, overcoming, release, miracles and joy. CHOOSE TO LIVE – that’s what those who have passed would tell you.
Jennifer Hough
Health by Absence or Presence?
Filed Under Chiropractic Care | Leave a Comment
Is the food you eat healthy because of what it has or because of what it doesn’t have? Some of the most famous diets have advertised being “low fat” or more recently “low carb”.
Likewise, when you think about your own health level, do you measure it by the problems you don’t have or by the ability to enjoy all that life has to offer you? Which type of health do you think is more valuable?
When the people from “The Secret” were on Oprah, one of the women said something that struck me. If you’re focused on losing weight you never will (consistently) but if you focus instead on being whole and healthy that that will lead you to where you want to be.
The law of attraction determines what type of choices and decisions we make, based on our thoughts and beliefs. So when your focus is on losing weight, you search out foods (often boxed and processed) that claim to be low in levels of sugar, fat, salt, and carbs.
While these foods may be low in certain nutrients, they are often heavily processed & preserved. As well, people will often eat more than one serving since the food often has higher levels of some other ingredient to make up for unnatural levels of something else.
If instead the focus is on becoming whole and healthy, foods that are boxed, canned, processed and which contain added sugar, fat, and salt are generally avoided or removed entirely from the diet. Whole food fills us up faster, as it doesn?t overwhelm our natural level of hunger and feelings of fullness. As a result we naturally eat less and often avoid the negative effects that junk food (synthetic food) can have on our metabolisms.
Dr. Sidenberg
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