crON Lite wrote:

> Is your nutrition book available in English from Amazon.com?

Well, it's in german and it's 10 years old.
However the author, a Mr Günther manages to point out vitamin
information better than any of my (many) other vitamin books.
Not the annoying and terrifying repeated information what deficits
cause, and not the repeated examples how well supplements did on some
examples.
Just plain information, also with bioavailability and combination info.

And storage information. I didn't find this elsewhere and  it's well
founded. He explains why.. and how this information was obtained.
This is a used one:
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/3921786398/

> BTW, recent research has shown Retinol is probably DANGEROUS to bone health
> for many people long-term in doses much over 2000 IU per day.  Increases
> fracture risk with osteo.  Most vitamin formulas have NOT lowered their
> Retinol dosages yet, so it's a good idea everyone check their multi-vitamin
> and/or Retinol dose.  About 800 to 1000 IU daily of Retinol is a safer
> maintenance dose.

I'm well aware that retinol can be dangerous. In high doses quite
drastic. And, as you describe, also in medium high doses that I'd expect
to result in long-term potentially dangerous situations.

Humans are primates. This is a species which evolved in rain forests and
savannah areas as fruit and other plant eaters.
The lower absorbtion plant vitamin-A has, compared to retinol, looks to
be a protection mechanism to regulate a proper intake of the powerful
vitamin A.

Likewisein the thread originating from Jay. It points out in the
independant article (
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health/story.jsp?story=441386 ) that
plant flavonols and other colored substances play an important role in
longevity of humans.
No surprise that humans are one of the few creatures which are able to
*see* a rich palette of colors.

regards

Amadeus S.