HN Explorer

Tell HN: Vitamin A Linked to Energy Levels

12 points by srcreigh ↗ HN
Please share tips or experiences related to vitamins/supplements

Vitamin A is pretty scarce in many diets, yet a 2010 paper shows that sufficient vitamin A produces 30% increase in ATP production. [0] ATP facilitates energy transfer between cells [5]

Lots of sources including wikipedia vitamin A page [6] don't seem to recognize the role of Vitamin A in energy transfer between cells. [2] [4] Wikipedia page for ATP does not mention the link with Vitamin A either. [7]

There are reports of Vitamin A supplements producing psychological productivity energy boost akin to caffeine. [1]

One cup of boiled carrots is sufficient daily intake of vitamin A. [2] Boiling the carrots increases vitamin A absorption due to breaking down the cellulose in carrots. [2]

Other sources include cooked tuna, cooked squash or pumpkin, cooked sweet potato, cooked spinach/kale/collard/chard/bok choy, or beef/fish liver. [3] If you aren't eating a good amount of these foods every day you are likely deficient.

VitaminA Vitamin-A (algolia has trouble with "Vitamin A" searches)

[0]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2812036/

[1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/Supplements/comments/cxm1pg/vitamin_a_increase_in_energy/

[2]: https://www.livestrong.com/article/542992-does-boiling-carrots-destroy-the-nutrients/

[3]: https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/food-sources-of-vitamin-A.php

[4]: https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-vitamin-a/art-20365945

[5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate

[6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_A

[7]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate

20 comments

[ 5.5 ms ] story [ 56.1 ms ] thread
steffs
100% been vegetarian for 10+ years and didn't realized I needed vit A suppl. till just a few years ago.
drakonka
When I was a child cod liver was a staple. My mom would spread it on a piece of bread. It's creamy and oily enough to not need any butter. Even as a fairly picky child, I always found it delicious and could go through countless of these sandwiches each day if she'd let me. So if someone is interested in trying liver for vitamin A, this might be a good one to try taste-wise.

The only caveat is, when looking into it a few years ago I read some horror stories about worms being not-too-uncommonly found in cod and cod liver. I'm not sure how regular it is to find these in a can of the stuff, but as a vegetarian of over ten years who was considering incorporating cod liver for Vitamin A specifically, the worm eek factor on top of the fish-eating was enough to dissuade me from trying it again.

moistly
I’d worry more about toxins. Cod livers will be accumulating the crap we’ve been pumping into the environment. And the higher up the food chain, the more the toxins accumulate. Cod is an apex predator, or nearly so (juvie’s get eaten by bigger fish; the adults are prey to shark & little else).

Oh, and yes, according to Wikipedia, cod are riddled with parasites.

giantg2
Worms are common in many fish. I've seen some in fish I've cooked and eaten. Per the FDA, the only fish allowed to be eaten raw without going through a parasite destructor process is tuna. Even then, it's not a bad idea in my opinion.
elmerfud
Maybe this is why I love steamed carrots. My body is subconsciously telling me something. Steam them till they're soft and saute them briefly in olive oil with some turmeric and garlic... Now I want carrots.
mindcrime
Steam them till they're soft and saute them briefly in olive oil with some turmeric and garlic... Now I want carrots.

Same. I could totally go for a big ole bowl of carrots tonight after work. Guess it's time for a quick side-trip to the grocery store on the way home tonight.

Normille
Carrots are one of those veggies that I like raw but can't stand cooked. I don't mind them as one of several ingredients in something like a casserole or a soup. But cooked carrots served as a veg in their own right, I find disgusting.
mindcrime
Funny how opposite people can be on stuff like this. I love cooked carrots, but rarely if ever eat raw carrots. The only time I ever eat raw carrot is when I have small amounts of shredded carrot pieces on a salad or something. But give me steamed carrots, or fried carrots, or big ole chunks of carrot cooked in beef stew or something, and I'm happy man. :-)
Garvey
I'm like this with peppers, love them raw when they're nice and crispy but hate them cooked because they become soggy almost. So I guess it's more of a texture than a taste thing.
giantg2
Stuff I've heard but have varying levels of support:

Supposedly many people are deficient in magnesium.

Another thing I've heard is that you need vitamin K to process vitamin D supplements. Yet many people have lower levels of vitamin K so the vitamin D supplements are less effective.

I've also heard that Omega supplements are better from non-fish bases because the fish oil tends to rapidly oxidize.

NAC could protect your liver and kidneys when drinking alcohol (or other toxins -they give an IV version to acetaminophen OD patients). It works by increasing intracellular gluthiomine levels.

Supplements are loosely regulated so it's important to pay attention to brand reputation, testing, and certifications.

Most people don't need supplements if they would just eat a healthy diet.

erisinger
I can back up the magnesium theory. Started pounding the stuff (100% chelated) a few years ago after reading about how many processes it's involved in and how little of it we actually get in our diets, and it was a game-changer. B12 also made a huge difference, even though I'm not vegetarian.

Would disagree that it's enough to eat a healthy diet. Our bodies evolved to eat an absurdly broad diet that provided countless nutrients that are hard to get today, even if you eat a local, organic, plant-based diet (which I do not).

srcreigh
Seems like some beef liver + 125g of sunflower seeds per day covers vitamins A, E, K, B12, and also magnesium.

It doesn't seem impossible to eat a diet to cover everything. But it seems very difficult to do it properly by mistake.

srcreigh
Too late to edit, but I tried stomaching 125g of roasted sunflower seeds today, and it is not easy. That's like 3/4 cup.
giantg2
One other thing, I believe magnesium is one of the nutrients that has been declining in food over time (eg food becoming less nutritious over the past century or so).
nextos
Aside from vitamin K, boron (and to some extent magnesium) play a fundamental role in the vitamin D pathway.
UniverseHacker
Vegetables don't contain retinol (e.g. real vitamin A) but beta-carotine, which isn't very efficiently converted to vitamin A by the body, and the ability to convert it varies as much as tenfold [0] from person to person. It's very likely that people that get an energy boost from retinol (e.g. a vitamin A supplement, or eating animal liver) wouldn't get the same boost from eating vegetables high in beta-carotene.

I would recommend eating liver, or getting a vitamin A supplement in addition to/instead of eating the vegetables mentioned above. Anecdotally, I notice a big improvement in my mood and energy levels when I consistently eat beef liver, despite the fact that I have a lot of high beta-carotine vegetables in my diet.

[0]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2854912/

srcreigh
Out of interest's sake, are there other vitamins missing from your diet which beef liver would provide? maybe B12?

Very interesting info though, worth trying out.

Anecdotally, I can share that I got a nice sleepy/focused/calm/euphoric boost a couple hours after eating some carrots today.

UniverseHacker
Yeah, liver is really high in a lot of nutrients hard to get elsewhere... it's hard to say what is causing the effect I notice.
giantg2
Butter, eggs, cheese, and fish have it too. Personally I like to stick with those. Liver and kidneys have higher values, but I don't trust "filter" organs these days. Too many potential contaminates unless you're very picky about where you get them.
UniverseHacker
Kidneys are a "filter" organ, liver really isn't. The liver contains p450 enzymes which chemically modify toxins from the blood as they flow through so that they can easily be filtered by the kidneys... I don't see any reason to expect toxins to be concentrated in the liver.