Earthmama pointed to this site (on CS Forum)in answer to a question re: Vegetarianism. I can't get the link to work so cut and paste.

http://www.westonaprice.org/myths_truths/myths_truths_vegetarianism.html

Here is what I thought you might be interested in, as I remembered you saying you ate healthy:

The body's needs for vitamin A can be entirely obtained from plant foods. Vitamin A is principally found in animal products. Plants do contain beta-carotene, a substance that the body can convert into vitamin A. The impression given by some vegetarian sources is that beta-carotene is just as good as vitamin A. This is not true.

Firstly, the conversion from carotene to vitamin A can only take place in the presence of bile salts. This means that fat must be eaten with the carotenes to stimulate bile secretion. Additionally, infants and people with hypothyroidism, gall bladder problems or diabetes either cannot make the conversion or do so very poorly. Lastly, the body's conversion from carotene to vitamin A is not very efficient: it takes 4­6 units of carotene to make one unit of vitamin A. What this means is that the sweet potato (containing about 25,000 units of beta-carotene) you just ate will only convert into about 4,000 units of vitamin A (assuming you ate it with fat and do not have a thyroid or gall bladder problem) [16].

Relying on plant sources for vitamin A, then, is not a very wise idea. This is why good-old-fashioned butter is a virtual must in any diet. Butter from pasture-fed cows is rich in vitamin A and will provide the intestines with the fatty material needed to convert vegetable carotenes into active vitamin A. Vitamin A is all-important in our diets, for it enables the body to use proteins and minerals (17).

-- Rick (Rick_122@hotmail.com), January 04, 2002

Answers

Ask any doctor or even just a nutritionist, they all much prefer you to take Beta Carotene for vitamin A requirements, it's non toxic in ANY amount, something that vitamin A can't claim to be, and Beta Carotene works just fine in the presence of small amounts of all vegetable oils, especially olive and canola oils.

I don't take any chances, I take Beta Carotene as a supplement daily, 25,000 I.U.'s, in addition to what I get in my diet.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), January 04, 2002.

I just watched a news show yesterday about vitiamn A. It said women where taking too much and it was leading to brittle bones and hip fractures when older. They stated that most vitiamns and suppliments had way over the recommended amounts daily for women. I don't know if this is true so I will have to do some research.God Bless

-- Micheale from SE Kansas (mbfrye@totelcsi.net), January 05, 2002.

I saw a newspaper article report on this study. Didn't it relate to Vitamin A hampering the ability of the body to absorb calcium?

Only time will tell I suppose.

-- Rick (Rick_122@hotmail.com), January 05, 2002.

This is an excerpt from CNN.com Quick News

"One theory is that too much vitamin A inhibits the ability of Vitamin D to help the body absorb calcium, said lead author, Diane Feskanich, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. She said previous studies also suggest vitamin A affects cells that work in bone remodeling -- the breakdown and rebuilding of bone."

-- Rick (Rick_122@hotmail.com), January 05, 2002.