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| Vitamin For Emphysema |
Question:
I have heard about some talk of vitamin A for emphysema being successful, is this true?
Answer:
Smoking-induced vitamin A deficiency may be the cause of emphysema.
A carcinogen found in cigarettes known as benzopyrene which has been found
to deplete vitamin A in the lungs and livers of rats is the likely cause of
smoking induced vitamin A deficiency in humans. Vitamin A and other
retinoids regulate lung development and the maintenance of the epithelium in
the alveoli (the small air sacks within the lungs). The vitamin A metabolite
all-trans-retinoic acid has demonstrated an ability to reverse emphysema in
laboratory animals in whom the disease was induced.
When the lung content of vitamin A was
low, the score of emphysema was high. So, the hypothesis is that smokers
develop emphysema because of a vitamin A deficiency . . . There are a lot of
people who live to be 90 years old and are smokers. Why? Probably because of
their diet.
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