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It’s true that many people can convert beta-carotene into vitamin A. It’s also true that many people cannot. And that’s just the beginning of the errors in the agency’s new labeling guidelines.
Action Alert!

The FDA’s new labeling guidelines demonstrate, in a variety of ways, how unfamiliar the agency is with the latest supplement science. For example, the FDA reckons there are no known benefits of the carotenoid pigments in fruit and vegetables other than their role in being converted to
vitamin A. It says there is no evidence that Americans suffer from vitamin A deficiency-and it makes no difference whether you get it directly from preformed vitamin A or indirectly from beta-carotene.

Although it’s true that beta-carotene is converted into vitamin A in the liver, there are huge differences in the conversion rate, depending both on the individual and whether the beta-carotene is synthetic or delivered naturally (via foods or supplements).

The FDA’s new way of measuring vitamin A (mg RAE instead of IU) simply eliminates the distinction between synthetic beta-carotene and naturally derived vitamin A. ANH-USA’s scientific director, Dr. Rob Verkerk, notes that “It’s a travesty that the FDA thinks the only beneficial role of beta-carotene is its conversion-variable as it is according to its source and the individual-to vitamin A. It also appears to have completely ignored the key roles of other provitamin A and non-provitamin carotenoids.”

The result?
Under the new rules, the amount of vitamin A actually derived from a supplement may be wildly different than what’s on the label.

“They’ve picked one vitamin A isomer, and they’re trying to tell us what’s equivalent to that,” integrative pioneer Jonathan Wright MD told ANH-USA. “But everyone has different enzyme systems; some people are lousy at turning beta-carotene into retinol. It’s a one-size-fits-all approach to health that doesn’t work.” Indeed, a reputable study suggests that as much as 45% of the population cannot convert beta-carotene into the vitamin A (retinol) our body needs.

The new rules will also change
folate’s unit of measurement from micrograms to “micrograms Dietary Folate Equivalent (mcg DFE)”. Essentially, one mcg DFE = 0.6 mcg of folic acid, based on the idea that folic acid is much more bioavailable than dietary folate. As pointed out by Dr. Verkerk, this is a gross generalization-how well you process folate comes down to your individual biology and genetics.

Additionally, in its new rules, the FDA fails to discuss its methodological approaches to evaluating differences in bioavailability between folic acid and dietary folates-in fact, the difference cited by the FDA appears to be based largely on a single study of non-pregnant women. This is ironic because whenever the benefits of supplementation are discussed, the FDA dismisses one or more studies as inadequate evidence.