On 21/05/2004, at 11:59, Arly Helm wrote:

> Vitamin A toxicity is easily achieved and dangerous.  There is as yet
> no
> known toxicity of beta carotene.

The research has not yet been done in non-smokers, but for smokers -
the very large CARET trial intervention had to be stopped early [1],
because of a significant excess of cancer and death in people taking
carotene supplements. A study in Finland showed similar results.

Just as the most technologically "advanced" artificial baby milks
cannot give the same health outcomes as real breastmilk, synthetic
mono-ingredient vitamin supplements do not result in the same health
outcomes as the complex substances present in real food.

I really hope this woman, who has a treatable pre-cancer condition, is
also having conventional monitoring/treatment.

Lara Hopkins

[1] http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cancernet/600413.html
[2]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?
cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8901853

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