Excessive Dietary Vitamin E: Its Alleviation of Hypervitaminosis A and Lack of Toxicity

HYPERVITAMINOSIS A has been reported in several species particularly in domestic pets (Seawright et al., 1965) which were fed large amounts of liver, and in humans (Persson et al., 1965) due to therapeutic overdoses of vitamin A. High levels of this vitamin were also shown to have a detrimental effect on calcification in cows (Manston, 1966). On the other hand, comparable levels of vitamin A have been used experimentally in combination with massive doses of vitamin D3 to treat milk fever in lactating cows (Payne and Manston, 1967) without toxic effects of either vitamin. This antagonistic action of vitamins A and D on the toxicity of each other has been studied in chicks by Taylor et al. (1968). The present report indicates that the toxicity due to excessive vitamin A can be counteracted by large doses of vitamin E. Preliminary studies indicated that a high level of dietary vitamin E…