Vitamin A for Measles Immunity
Way better results than vaccines!
Vitamin A for Measles Immunity
Mother Nature has many ways to protect us from infections. But most of us don’t know about them because she has no budget for PR, while Big Pharma spends millions on advertising and lobbying for vaccines.
Let’s compare and contrast these 2 methods for preventing measles in adulthood. Before the measles vaccine arrived in 1963, parents knew that catching it in childhood was quite safe. Baby Boomers like me, who were born before 1963, got our life long measles immunity that way.
Note: Unlike the immunity conferred by a childhood bout of measles, the immunity from shots fades over time, so vaccinated people need boosters1 every 10 years or so to maintain protection.
For 52 years after the measles shots were available, California parents could decline them for their kids because the shot wasn’t mandatory for school until 10 years ago.
Any unvaccinated person who caught measles as a kid and now wants to attend college without getting the measles shot can prove their immunity with a titer test2. The CDC says:
“You do not need a … MMR vaccine if you … have laboratory confirmation of past infection or have blood tests that show you are immune to measles, mumps, and rubella.”
Besides antibodies, Ma Nature’s other measles defense is vitamin A
In 2013, the World Health Organization classified vitamin A deficiency as a public health problem affecting about one third of children up to 5 years old. The W.H.O. also says that vitamin A (retinol) supplementation is associated with a 30% reduction3 of death from measles. For children in hospitals, the reduction is 66%.
Furthermore:
“Vitamin A deficiency4 is also the leading cause of preventable childhood blindness and increases the risk of death from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhea. Periodic, high-dose vitamin A supplementation is a proven, low-cost intervention which has been shown to reduce all-cause mortality by 12 to 24%.”
W.H.O. experts conclude that:
“A daily dose of up to 10,000 IU5 (3 mg)… is probably safe, especially in areas where vitamin A deficiency is thought to be common.”
See the excellent summary of the importance of vitamin A, Timoneda6 et al in Nutrients (204 citations, 2018).
How about vitamin A levels in the U.S.?
According to the National Health and Nutrition Survey for 2009-2012, 65% of Americans have intakes “below the Estimated Average Requirement (E.A.R.).” So, two thirds7 of the U.S. population, when eating the standard American diet, do not get sufficient vitamin A.
Which means that 2/3 of Americans are more susceptible to catching measles as adults, when there can be serious consequences. Actually, this deficiency is more prevalent than 65% because the E.A.R. is a very low bar.
Besides strengthening immunity and the importance for vision that everyone knows about, vitamin A is also required for over 700 biological processes in the body, such as preventing allergies, building strong bones and teeth, good hormone balance, and energy production in the mitochondria
Given these facts, why isn’t vitamin A the main solution for measles instead of a vaccine aimed at just one disease?
Fortunately, as the CDC has reported, there have been no measles deaths in the US since 2000, despite the scary news reports of “epidemic levels” of measles. Developed nations like the USA usually have a lot fewer acute infectious due to our clean drinking water, sewage systems, accessible medical care, and food security.
Deaths per 100,000 cases
https://learntherisk.org/vaccines/diseases/ & https://learntherisk.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/diseases-declined-updated-400px-wide.jpg
Look at the graphs8 above – the measles vaccine came along in 1963, when the death rate was about 30 people per 100,000 each year in 1970 (and zero since 2000). Compare that to the annual rate of 600 deaths a year per 100,000 in the 1890s. That means the vaccine wasn’t the main reason for ending measles infections in the US.
Further support for this claim is that the graph for typhoid fever shows a similar decline – but the typhoid vaccine was never widely used.
I submit that these graphs raise the question: Are measles vaccines as necessary as they’re hyped up to be?
Vitamin A levels in our diet were once 10 times higher
Back in the 1930s, Dr. Price traveled over 100,000 miles to study the diets and health of 14 indigenous communities still practicing their traditional ways, bringing home food and saliva samples to evaluate. His lab analyses9 of nutrient levels in their food revealed that they contained 10 times the vitamin A found in the American diet. In fact, in those cultures, children and pregnant mothers were provided with extra portions of vitamin-A-rich foods.
There are well-referenced articles10 on vitamin A at the WestonAPrice.org website.
It’s difficult for the body to absorb and utilize vitamin A
That problem is made worse by 4 misunderstandings most doctors have:
1. They don’t think vitamin A deficiency is widespread.
2. Because of the small, flawed Rothman study11 in 1995, doctors are taught that high amounts of vitamin A are dangerous.
3. While doctors encourage patients to take vitamin D supplements, they don’t realize that every molecule of vitamin D requires a molecule of vitamin A in order to be utilized.
4. Finally, many doctors incorrectly believe that beta carotene is equivalent to vitamin A, however we need 12 molecules of beta-carotene to produce 1 molecule of retinol, due to limited absorption from the diet.
Good Sources of Vitamin A are beef or chicken liver, cod liver oil, dairy products and eggs, see the chart at Healthline10
What’s a sensible daily dose?
Before people were so reliant on processed foods for their diet, back when many homemakers cooked from scratch because one income could cover a family’s expenses, homemade meals could reasonably supply 10,000 to 20,00012 IUs of vitamin A each day!
In contrast, the FDA’s Recommended Dietary Allowance for adults is only a tenth of that: 700 to 900 IU!
One study demonstrates the lost benefits14 due to being so “Vitamin A Hesitant”: when new mothers were supplemented after delivery with a very large one-time dose (200,000 IU) of true vitamin A, their breastfeeding infants had a significantly lower incidence of respiratory tract infections and fever. Most babies need Mom to provide them with vitamin A because they “are born with negligible liver stores” of the nutrient.” Which is why, if the mother doesn’t have enough vitamin A in her breast milk, “maternal supplementation with a single postpartum high dose increases milk vitamin A for 3 to 8 months.”
Reading labels of maternity vitamin supplements, I found they provide less vitamin A than supplements for other adults! For all these reasons, maybe we should ask, “What can the public health department do about the widespread deficiency of Vitamin A?
Symptoms of vitamin A deficiency
We know that anyone who avoids driving at night is probably deficient in vitamin A. Here are some other problems15 typical of deficiency in vitamin A
• Little bumps on arms or legs
• Eyes so dry that a person relies on eye drops
• Frequent colds or infections
• Any sort of seasonal, environmental or food allergies
• Difficulty sleeping
• Forgetfulness|
• Needing sunglasses outside in bright light
• Chronically dry skin
References
1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8189124/
2. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mmr/public/index.html
3. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7173731/
4. https://data.unicef.org/topic/nutrition/vitamin-a-deficiency/
5. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7173731/
6. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/10/9/1132
7. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_02/sr02_178.pdf
8. https://learntherisk.org/vaccines/diseases
9. https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/vitamin-a-saga
10. https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/vitamin-a-mazing
11. https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/vitamin-a-saga
12. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-in-vitamin-a#animal-foods
13. https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/cod-liver-oil/cod-liver-oil-basics-and-recommendations
14. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/156482650102200302
15. https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/vitamin-a-mazing
Final words of Public Comment:
I submit that these graphs raise the question: Are measles vaccines as necessary as they’re hyped up to be?
Back in the 1930s, Dr. Price analyzed nutrient levels in the food from 14 healthy indigenous communities. It contained 10 times the vitamin A that’s in the American diet.
Some misunderstandings most doctors have:
1. Because of the small, flawed Rothman study (11) in 1995, doctors are taught that high amounts of vitamin A are dangerous.
2. While doctors encourage patients to take vitamin D supplements, they don’t realize that every molecule of vitamin D requires a molecule of vitamin A in order to be utilized.
What’s a sensible daily dose?
Before people were so reliant on processed foods homemade meals could reasonably supply 10,000 to 20,000 IUs (13) of vitamin A each day. In contrast, the FDA’s Recommended Dietary Allowance for adults is only a tenth of that: 700 to 900 IU! For all these reasons, maybe we should ask, “What can the public health department do about the widespread deficiency of Vitamin A?
Continued from prior comment:
The W.H.O. experts conclude that:
“A daily dose of up to 10,000 IU (5) (which is 3 mg)… is probably safe.“
How about vitamin A levels in the U.S.?
According to the National Health and Nutrition Survey for 2012 two thirds (7) of the U.S. population, when eating the standard American diet, do not get sufficient vitamin A. Which means that 2/3 of Americans are more susceptible to catching measles as adults.
Vitamin A is required for over 700 biological processes in the body, such as preventing allergies, building strong bones and teeth, good hormone balance, and energy production in the mitochondria. Given these facts, why isn’t vitamin A the main solution for measles instead of a vaccine aimed at just one disease?
Look at the graphs (8) – the measles vaccine came along in 1963, when the fatality rate was about 30 deaths per 100,000 cases (and it’s been zero since 2000). Compare that to the annual rate of 600 deaths per 100,000 in the 1890s. Experts say the main reasons for ending measles infections in the US were clean tap water, good sewage treatment, and food security. Further support for this claim is that the graph for typhoid fever shows a similar decline – but the typhoid vaccine was never widely used.