someone answer this for me if you can

[conyers]

my dad started balding about the age of 20; he has always claimed that it was due to an excess of vitamin a, which he said, he would take anywhere from several hundred to even 1000mgs a day to keep his skin clear. apparently the body doesn't flush out vitamin a and it can store up and poison your hair roots. can anyone tell me if this is true?

edit: my grandfather on my mom's side still has all his hair and my grandfather on my dad's side didnt' start really balding till in his 60s.

2nd edit: i was wrong on the amount, i just talked to him and he said he was taking 50,000 mg per day, not 1000mg

 

[tchehov]

Ah, vitamin A. Or to give it its proper name, the devil. 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'

 

[Thinning]

my dad started balding about the age of 20; he has always claimed that it was due to an excess of vitamin a, which he said, he would take anywhere from several hundred to even 1000mgs a day to keep his skin clear. apparently the body doesn't flush out vitamin a and it can store up and poison your hair roots. can anyone tell me if this is true?

edit: my grandfather on my mom's side still has all his hair and my grandfather on my dad's side didnt' start really balding till in his 60s.

2nd edit: i was wrong on the amount, i just talked to him and he said he was taking 50,000 mg per day, not 1000mg

No thats bullsh1t, dont listen to your father. He is an idiot for blaming the vitamin A, and even more of an idiot for taking 50 grams of that sh1t a day.

 

[Thinning]

What are the health risks of too much vitamin A?
Hypervitaminosis A refers to high storage levels of vitamin A in the body that can lead to toxic symptoms. There are four major adverse effects of hypervitaminosis A: birth defects, liver abnormalities, reduced bone mineral density that may result in osteoporosis (see the previous section), and central nervous system disorders [1,48-49].

Toxic symptoms can also arise after consuming very large amounts of preformed vitamin A over a short period of time. Signs of acute toxicity include nausea and vomiting, headache, dizziness, blurred vision, and muscular uncoordination [1,48-49]. Although hypervitaminosis A can occur when large amounts of liver are regularly consumed, most cases result from taking excess amounts of the nutrient in supplements.

 

[Bryan]

2nd edit: i was wrong on the amount, i just talked to him and he said he was taking 50,000 mg per day, not 1000mg

You need to edit your post for a THIRD time, dude. What he meant is that he was taking 50,000 UNITS per day, not milligrams! The recommended daily allowance for vitamin A in an adult male is on the order of about 1 milligram. I seriously doubt that he was taking 50,000 times the RDA! :wink:

Bryan

 

[conyers]

i did some searching and hair loss can be attributed to an overdose of vitamin a. milligrams, units, either way he said he was taking more than 12x the recommened dosage a day.
list of vitamin a overdose symptoms:


Nausea
Loss of appetite
Headache
Peeling skin
Hair loss
Tiredness
Menstrual irregularity
Enlarged liver
Enlarged spleen
etc...

 

[MPBWarrior]

No thats bullsh1t, dont listen to your father. He is an idiot for blaming the vitamin A, and even more of an idiot for taking 50 grams of that sh1t a day.

Hahahahahahahaha

 

[s.a.f]

There is hairloss and then there is m.p.b Male pattern balding. The 2 are totally different. If you are 2 or above on the Norwood scale then you have m.p.b and cant blame it on anything other than your genetics.

 

[conyers]

so genetics made him bald but no one in my family has ever been bald but my dad, is that what you're saying? my grandfather even in his 70s still has more hair than my dad.

 

[CCS]

I think bryan is right about the 50,000 units. It think the RDA is about 3000 units. Vitamin A is fat soluble, so it is stored in the fat until the body needs it. You can get rid of it by not eating any vitamin a or beta carotene for a while. Just calculate how much he ate for a while, divide it by 3000 units, and that is how many days you have to stay off it. Though you might not want to go that long.

 

[s.a.f]

so genetics made him bald but no one in my family has ever been bald but my dad, is that what you're saying? my grandfather even in his 70s still has more hair than my dad.

Yep, nobody goes bald unless its in their genes, I guess that he's still got hair on the back and sides of his head. These genes must have come from somewhere back in your family history.

 

[News2]

Accutane, which is used to treat acne, is based on vitamine A, and it can have shitloads of side effects - hairloss being one of them.