Check your Cod Liver Oil

How many of you take Cod Liver Oil as a supplement? If you do, please note the amount of Vit A and Vit D stated as per capsule or teaspoon.

I’ve been taking Cod Liver Oil for more than a year to improve on my immunity as well as, other health benefits such as better skin, hair (especially if you are prone to dry skin and hair), and also to lubricate the joints.

But to my horror, I just got to realize that MANY brands of cod liver oil that are easily available in supermarkets and pharmacies actually contain synthetic Vit A and Vit D and the proportion of Vit D is usually only 10% of Vit A, which means that:

[1] You can overdose on Vit A, especially since Vit A is fat soluble, ie: your body will retain the extra Vit A in your fat and overtime, can cause Vit A toxicity. It will take months for your body to flush out the vitamin A.

[2] Your body will react negatively to the chronic intake of Vitamin A.

And that was what happened to me. I’ve been getting rashes for the past 4 weeks and the doctors didn’t know exactly what was causing the rash and it didn’t help that I have eczema as well. So all I had was some anti-itch medication and calamine lotion, and to be fair, those did help.

Sick and tired of the itch (and the back pain!) and with a nagging feeling that it is most probably due to my diet, I did some research on the net and noticed that my symptoms were pretty close to overreaction of cod liver oil or specifically, vitamin A.

So, I stopped my daily intake of 6 capsules of cod liver oil and…

VIOLA. NO RASH for 2 days.

Might be a coincidence… so, I’ll continue to observe my body for the next few weeks to determine that my rash is actually caused by cod liver oil.

So, everyone out there… please take note of the supplements that you are taking, especially Cod Liver Oil and Fish Oil. Some brands actually contain synthetic vitamins and that can be harmful to your body instead!