Raw Beef Liver & the USDA National Nutrient Database -BE CAREFUL-

[24isours]

After doing some research for the past few days I came across some really interesting information about the relationship between Retinol (Vitamin A) and Iodide uptake: Retinol significantly increases Iodide uptake as well as protein iodination, therefore the more Vitamin A and protein one eats the more thyroid hormone the body produces.

      I've been on a high dose of Iodide for over 3 years now (50+ mg per day). My experiment for the last few days has been to completely stop my Iodide supplementation for 2 days and at the same time increase my Retinol intake. Usually, when I increase my Vitamin A intake to current levels (even initially) I get the symptoms I mentioned earlier in this post. Well, the symptoms did not show up the first two days while doing this.
     
      Today I decided to supplement again with a much smaller dose of Iodide (7mg) and to continue eating higher amounts of Vitamin A and so far so good! I actually feel even better!

So my conclusion:

Too much Iodide can cause Hyperthyroidism (this is proven in studies).
Combine too much Iodide and Vitamin A and you get symptoms of Hyperthyroidism which are identical to the symptoms I thought were being caused by too much Retinol.

Thanks for all the replies!

     
   

[Dr. D]

WOW!!! Thanks so much for that info! I am going to try this because I have been at high doses of iodine. I am going to try to increase my liver consumption and drop the iodine. Will report.

[LePatron7]

After doing some research for the past few days I came across some really interesting information about the relationship between Retinol (Vitamin A) and Iodide uptake: Retinol significantly increases Iodide uptake as well as protein iodination, therefore the more Vitamin A and protein one eats the more thyroid hormone the body produces.

Could you elaborate on what "protein iodination" means and also possibly post the links where you found that info?

[sabertooth]

Generally speaking, from my own opinion supplements are not necessary on a properly balanced Raw Paleo diet.

If you were depleted of nutrients before going raw paleo you can correct the deficiency with diet alone.

Just eat the whole animal, along with a variety of plant foods that best suit your needs.

Eat bone marrow, organs, blood, glands, fats, etc. If you feel like you need iodine eat a raw thyroid gland from a clean pasture raised animal, or pig out on some raw sea food. 

[24isours]

Could you elaborate on what "protein iodination" means and also possibly post the links where you found that info?

It is basically the process of Iodine attaching to protein to increase production of Thyroid Hormones. Protein seems to stimulate thyroid function when the intake of Retinol is adequate.

Here is the link:

http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/content/183/3/617.full.pdf

[24isours]

WOW!!! Thanks so much for that info! I am going to try this because I have been at high doses of iodine. I am going to try to increase my liver consumption and drop the iodine. Will report.

You are welcome, Dr. D! I took Iodine for quite a while to reach 'Iodine Sufficiency' and didn't lower my dose once I was saturated and that is when the problems started. I'm at around 7mg right now and may lower my dose even more. If you have been taking it for a while at high doses it would be smart to lower your dose.  Whole body sufficiency takes about a year to achieve at 12.5mg per day.

[Projectile Vomit]

Yeah, I figured your symptoms had nothing to do with the liver you were eating. Nice job on sleuthing the real problem and finding the solution!

[political atheist]

we re all copper deficient...look up cooper and what it does in the  body. i plant to eat 3.5 oz of raw liver per day for the copper. cant get oyster, they are expensive, £1.10/ oyster... if i eat 3 per day that would = £100 per month... i can get 1kg raw grass fed beef liver for £8.50

also copper is great against worms...

[dariorpl]

Can they even test for the amount of vitamin A in liver without cooking it?

I think when you enter a food raw and how much of it you want to measure, all it means is that it's weighted raw, but it will go through cooking to be able to test it. So when you try the same food cooked, and enter the same weight or volume it will be a larger amount of the same food, as there's more water to start with, which is lost during cooking. Also sometimes fats drip out or burn out and go up as smoke during cooking. And some nutrients are always lost in boiling water, which becomes a broth after cooking just about anything in it.

[TylerDurden]

Can they even test for the amount of vitamin A in liver without cooking it?

I think when you enter a food raw and how much of it you want to measure, all it means is that it's weighted raw, but it will go through cooking to be able to test it. So when you try the same food cooked, and enter the same weight or volume it will be a larger amount of the same food, as there's more water to start with, which is lost during cooking. Also sometimes fats drip out or burn out and go up as smoke during cooking. And some nutrients are always lost in boiling water, which becomes a broth after cooking just about anything in it.

No, the usda nutrient database, for example, also tests the nutrient levels of some raw foods so that one can compare the nutrient levels of some raw foods with their cooked  equivalents.