While many topically applied vitamins have skin benefits, none can come close to the wide ranging salubrious effects provided by Vitamin A, a powerful and multifunctional oily nutrient that is available in three major forms.
The most common and the most stable form of Vitamin A is called retinyl palmitate. Retinyl is the Latin designation for Vitamin A and palmitate represents a carrying case or ferry for Vitamin A, acting to shuttle to the nutrient around in a protective bubble. This is the type that is absorbed into the body from the digestive system when we take supplements or eat Vitamin A containing foods. Topically it has some nice moisturizing and skin softening properties and there are enzymes in the skin that can break it down and activate it.
The second form of Vitamin A is known as retinol. It’s more active than retinyl palmitate and, in fact, if you use a high enough concentration of retinol (say 5 to 10 or even 20 percent) you can get a nice exfoliating Vitamin A skin peel. However retinol is quite unstable and for this reason you’re really not going to find these kinds of concentrations in topical products. At lower concentrations retinol can be “somewhat effective”, although the amount of retinol in most retail products isn’t going to get you much effect.
There’s a new cholesterol fighting sheriff in town, called “Praluent”. The first of a class of drugs called PCSK9s (Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9) Inhibitors. These are biological type substances, cloned in a laboratory, that act to shut down the cholesterol processing machinery on the outside of cells. They’re derivatives of a type of chemical called an “Anti-Body”, a science fiction like component of the body’s immune (defense) system that can be thought of as a high tech biochemical weapon - Biology’s versions of seek and destroy missiles.
Over the past ten years, pharmaceutical companies have figured out how to economically produce these chemical weapons, colloquially referred to a “Biologics”. The idea is that by targeting specific problem causing biochemicals for destruction, troublesome symptoms can be reduced. The two best-selling PCSK9s, biologics Humira and Embrel, are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). They work by targeting and destroying the inflammatory factors that are associated with joint deterioration and muscle pain. The third bestselling biologic Remicade aims for inflammatory factors in the colon and is used to treat Crohn’s Disease. Other biologics are used to treat Cancer, Psoriasis and neurological conditions. Research engines at pharmaceutical companies are firing on all cylinders searching feverishly for the next biologic blockbuster.
Actual letter form a real Liver-hater:
“I tried putting a bit of chopped up liver in with my ground beef bolognaise but I could still taste the creamy liver taste that makes me feel physically nauseous. I REALLY want to eat liver for all the nutrients and vitamin A but I physically can't do it…”
I can relate to the author of this anonymous letter recently posted on a paleo website. I hate the stuff too! Nor are we alone. Although the Epicurean among us may delight in Liver’s velvety texture and creamy taste, kitchendaily.com found that its America’s most hated food. Even the slippery, slimy look of Liver can be enough to activate the gag reflex.
So what exactly is it that accounts for widespread repulsion? Well, the Liver organ is an extreme organ, in fact it's the largest organ in the body. Among the hardest working in the body, its cells perform many of 100’s of biochemical roles like ridding the body of drugs and poisons. It purifies foods we eat, it creates and stores proteins, fats and sugars. It’s also a vitamin and mineral warehouse and is also a major center for hormone production (i.e. Estrogen, Testosterone, Cortisol and many other steroids are processed in Liver). In short, it's the body’s poison control center. What a biological powerhouse!
By far the leading cause of death worldwide are a class of illnesses doctors call “non- communicable diseases” or “NCDs”. These are chronic long term illnesses that are not spread from person to person as are infectious illnesses and that do not resolve themselves. According to the World Health Organization there are thousands of different types of non-communicable diseases also called chronic diseases that fall into four major classes: cardiovascular, respiratory, cancer and diabetes.
However, while there are numerous NCD diagnoses, from a healing perspective, the actual names, which are really nothing more than Latin descriptions, really don’t matter. Whether the diagnosis is Fibromyalgia (literally: “muscle fiber pain”) or
“Molecular biology has shown that even the simplest of all living systems on the earth today…cells, are exceedingly complex objects. Although the tiniest…cells are incredibly small, weighing less than .000000000001 grams, each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machine built by man and absolutely without parallel in the nonliving world.”
-Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis
It’s called the living biological cell, and scientists know that, though it weighs trillions less than a copper penny, even the simplest ones are exceedingly complex; they are biochemically sophisticated “beings” capable of creating all the chemistry and components of life. When meditated on for even a moment, one can be forgiven for seeing the cell's existence as testimony of a guiding hand behind biological existence. Even if one isn’t inspired to wax divine or poetic, it’s hard not to be awed by this tiny blob of living-ness that can manufacture 10 million molecules a second.
