Hepatitis C Support Group

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral disease which can cause liver inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact with an infected person's blood. Many people with HCV infection have no symptoms and are unaware of the need to seek treatment. Hepatitis C infects an estimated 150-200 million people worldwide.

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Vit A deficiency affects TX outcomes

ImKramer
ImKramer
Chronic HCV linked to vitamin A deficiency, nonresponse to antiviral therapy.
http://www.healio.com/hepatology/chronic-hepatitis/news/online/%7B96429919-42C5-489C-9BB5-C5A2E4774093%7D/Chronic-HCV-linked-to-vitamin-A-deficiency-nonresponse-to-antiviral-therapy
deleted_user
deleted_user
A couple of months before I started treatment my doctor stressed to take a multivitamin I am taking Centrum Silver.It also has no iron
ImKramer
ImKramer
My Dr.s have always talked about Vit D but not so much A so this is kind of interesting now. Not that I would ever do Interferon again ..lol
deleted_user
deleted_user
I would never do interferon again either.
Trissa01
Trissa01
50-80% of vitamin A is stored in the liver. If the right taxis (like zinc) are available, it goes from liver to tissues.
A low A diet not likely in developed countries. Defective absorption, altered metabolism, or increased requirements more likely causing low delivery to tissues.
Alcohol affects the metabolism of vitamin A.
Trissa01
Trissa01
Sorry to bring this back up again but was doing some research to share - you know native americans & asians - we of mongoloid race - can't metabolize alcohol like other peoples.
Its genetic, due to an enzyme difference, and brings us back to the
VIT A topic:
This allows the consumption of alcoholic beverages,... but its evolutionary purpose is probably the breakdown of alcohols naturally contained in foods or produced by bacteria in the digestive tract.[16]Another evolutionary purpose may be metabolism of the endogenous alcohol vitamin A (retinol), which generates the hormone retinoic acid, although the function here may be primarily the elimination of toxic levels of retinol
catmagic
catmagic
And yet I've read that Vit A is not good for the liver - at least, not too much of it, and how do we know what is too much? It would depend on each individual's situation. Ergggg - get so frustrated with the supplements thing - since they aren't regulated, we could be over-doing some of them, not doing others that we should be, and it's just .... I'm at the point where I don't want to take ANY of them except certain ones formulated for liver health.

But for sure, I am Vit A deficient; I know I am. And for sure I went from Grade 0 to Grade 4 in the last 10 years. And I don't know why. Guess it doesn't matter why - what matters is to stay compensated. Most docs won't even discuss supplements, so what are we to do?
ImKramer
ImKramer
A,E,D,K are all fat soluble so yes you can end up with too much in your system. Perhaps just stick to recommended daily intake?