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Spectracell test for vitamin A
Since early February 2019, I've continued to eat a very restricted diet of white rice, black beans, light olive oil, rice protein powder, sunflower lecithin sometimes, and supplements. Exceptions were few: mainly eating out a few times, when I had ham or steak or potatoes, and pinto beans. So I doubt I'm getting much vitamin A.
But I just got my results from the Spectracell Micronutrient blood test, collected in late August, so 6 months into the diet. It claims to measure nutrient deficiencies from the last 4-6 months. To my surprise, my Vitamin A level was reported to be not only "strong" (vs. "deficient/compromised" or "average/borderline"); it was >70% in the reference range. I can think of the following interpretations:
- Over the last 6 months I've continued to draw Vitamin A from my liver/fat stores, consistent with Grant's theory.
- Or, the light olive oil I eat has a ton of Vitamin A (I eat 2-6 Tbsp of it a day). Seems unlikely.
- Or, the test didn't accurately measure my Vitamin A status. Seems possible.
Otherwise my results were: "average/borderline" in biotin, folate, pantothenate, B12, B2, zinc (all of which I'm already supplementing), D3 (which I'm choosing not to supplement), and chromium (which I may now consider supplementing). I had no micronutrients in the "deficient/compromised" category. I expected it to show high zinc, since I'd been supplementing 30mg/day for six weeks, but it was >37% of the reference range.
So even though I probably won't do anything different based on these results, for me personally it was probably worth the $400 USD to provide supporting evidence that I indeed have or had Vitamin A toxicity. Perhaps this test could help confirm Grant's theory if more people post their results, as the serum Vitamin A test is considered unhelpful and the retinyl ester test is not publicly available.
Thanks for sharing Dan.
My understanding is that serum vitamin A simply shows how much VA is in the blood at any given time. Dr. Smith has spoken about how people test their VA levels and after 6-12 months actually have higher VA in the blood... since the liver is ushering it out of the body.
I don't think olive oil or anything else you're eating is high in Vitamin A.
Most importantly, how are you feeling since you started the diet? Any symptoms resolve or decrease?
I would like to take this test but unfortunately it's available only in USA, Canada and UK. Personally I started taking B complex because my homocysteine grew to over 3 times lab upper limit and folate was just over the minimum. Looks like beans are not enough for me to get vit B.
I didn't see meat listed among the items on your regular diet. If you're not eating meat, then you should definitely supplement Taurine. But if you eat meat when you eat out, then why not make it part of your regular diet?
Also, I could not find anything about the accuracy of the spectracell test. I know that RBP is not a good indicator of liver toxicity, but is spectracell any better?
*BUMP*
Does anyone have any additional comments on the Spectracell Micronutrient Test at this point in time? How well does it actually represent nutrient status throughout the body?
I had one of these tests done in the midst of being heavily Vitamin A toxic, about 1 year before I reduced my Vitamin A intake. A lot of the results align with Vitamin A toxicity (low zinc, magnesium, B1, B6, B9, glutathione), but it also indicated I was borderline deficient in Vitamin A and deficient in copper, which I'm sure is completely wrong.
It seems to me the method is either highly flawed, or it can't distinguish between true deficiency and functional deficiency. It's possible that I had/have a bunch of copper stuck in my liver that isn't being mobilized for lack of ceruloplasmin. I'm not sure how to explain the low Vitamin A value though.
If I understand correctly, the method used is basically to culture your lymphocytes in an extremely nutrient dense environment and measure the amount of growth that takes place over a certain period of time...the more growth in response to a particular nutrient, the more indicative of a pre-existing deficiency in that nutrient. I have no idea how well such an approach is supported by the literature.
The reason I ask about this now is because a practitioner I'm consulting with thinks this test is very useful and wants me to do it.
Interestingly. Based on my thoughts, I will assume that when this test shows a deficiency of VA or VB6 - you actually have an excess, and vice versa.