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AN EPP SUPPORT GROUP
EPPREF member Brad Larkin has started an EPP support group for people living in Australia, New Zealand, and Australasia. If you are interested in corresponding with EPP people in those countries, his e-mail address is: blarkin@jcom.home.ne.jp.
COPING TIPS
An article about the effects of excess vitamin A is reprinted below. For those of you who are taking Lumitene, you are getting all the vitamin A that you need. As the article states, taking beta-carotene (Lumitene) will not give you vitamin A overdose problems. because the body makes just the vitamin A that it needs from beta-carotene. As the article suggests, it is a good idea to watch the amount of pre-formed vitamin A in your foods and supplements, whether or not you are taking Lumitene.
The Madico company makes a window film which blocks the wavelengths of light to which EPP people are sensitive. This film can be applied to car and building windows. It is called the "TA-81-XSR" film. If interested, call 1-800-456-4331, ask for customer service, and they will give you the name of a distributor of the film who is located in your part of the country.
The Skin Cancer Foundation has a web-site which may have some products of interest to EPP people - it is www.skincancer.org . Although skin cancer is caused by ultraviolet (UV) light, which is of shorter wavelengths than the light which causes trouble for EPP people, some skin cancer effects are caused by "long-wave" UV, which is close to the wavelengths affecting EPP people. So, sunscreens which give protection in the long-wave UV, called UV-A may offer some protection in EPP. The SCF also lists sun-protective clothes, etc., which also would probably work in EPP. However, you have to cautiously try the sunscreens and clothes as we have previously mentioned - with short sun exposures, sunscreens on small areas of your skin, etc., etc., until you determine if they work for you. We are always interested in what products you find effective for you, and we will be glad to list them EPPREF NEWS.
THE USUAL REMINDER: If you want to continue to receive EPPREF NEWS, please notify us of your change of address, if you move - the Post Office does not forward mail for very long!!
BONE HEALTH ALERT!
KNOW WHEN TO QUIT
Too much Vitamin A May Actually Hurt Bones
A troubling new report from a major medical study suggests that some women may be getting too much vitamin A, which may greatly increases their risk of hip fractures.
Vitamin A comes two ways: as beta-carotene, which your body converts into only as much A as you need, or as pre-formed vitamin A. In Harvard University's Nurses' Health Study, women over 50 who regularly got 5,000 IU of of pre-formed vitamin A (the amount in many multivitamins) had a 64% greater risk of hip fractures. Going over 6,000 IU almost doubled the risk (JAMA, Jan. 2, 2000).
Should you worry? "Not yet," says John Erdman, Ph. D., vitamin A expert on the scientific panel that sets U.S. nutrient guidelines. "It doesn't make sense biologically that vitamin A levels this low would increase hip fractures." And a recent study of 5,800 people reported in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research (Dec. 16, 2001) found no connection between vitamin A and bone health.
But until we know more, Dr. Erdman says it does make sense to keep your intake of preformed vitamin A close to 5,000 IU. Here's how:
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Make sure your multivitamin has no more than 5,000 IU of vitamin A, which is 100% of the Daily Value (DV). Best bet: look for at least part of the A to come from beta-carotene, which has been proven harmless to bones.
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Keep tabs on foods that are always or often fortified with preformed vitamin A. Find a cereal with no added vitamin A. Use milk with the least vitamin A (about 6% DV per glass). Use margarine sparingly. Watch vitamin A levels in energy bars and meal-replacement drinks.
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Don't take a separate vitamin A supplement on your own. If you take one under a doctor's care, have your bone density checked.
(Reprinted from Prevention, June 2002)
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