Hi Jean-Louis, I just read your material on carotenoids with interest, because it kind of coincides with my interest in this area. I started having an easier time with my dry mucous membranes by eating squash. Vitamin A helps mucosal health. I had read Paul Pitchford's opinion that people need greater amounts of vitamin A for the liver in these polluted times. I decided I was going to give my daughter increased amounts of beta carotene to see if it would have a beneficial effect. I was going to give her chlorophyll at the same time which supposedly enhances beta-carotene conversion to vitamin A due to the enzymes. Diabetics are supposed to have trouble or be unable to convert beta carotene though, so perhaps they shouldn't have the beta carotene at all. I also tried this with myself. I got some marine beta-carotene from Dunaliella salina. On the bottle it says that D. salina has the cis and trans forms of beta-carotene and that the cis form percentage is higher since the plant is grown in the sun and not underground. It seems to me though that when I take it I get a kind of overtaxed metabolism. I'm wondering just what the conversion process is and what glandular effects it might have. Apparently people who are hypothyroid can't convert beta carotene either, so I'm wondering if glandular exhaustion has something to do with that. Your posting mentions that parasites gravely limit the amount of beta-carotene usage. I'm wondering also about candida albicans. I think I will go back to getting my beta-carotene from the food I eat. I found a book at the library called The Tri-color Diet by Martin Katahn, PhD. He also wrote another book about weightloss concerning doing your exercise at the times your metabolism is geared the highest. When my diabetic daughter was born she had massive cradle cap (even in her eyebrows). I got the idea that was a sign of liver tiredness. It could also have been something to do with candida. I've been thinking lately about trying some herbs that enhance glandular support like astragalus. Mary J.