Desiccated Liver and Vitamin A

The dense forest of bodybuilding nutrition contains a paradox: the quantity of information available is abundant, but the wisdom of traditional diets to satisfy the primary concerns of bodybuilders is sparse and hard to find. Typical recommendations include very low-fat diets rich in protein foods like salmon and chicken.

You will search in vain through mainstream men’s health magazines to find so much as a mention of the importance of vitamin A to bodybuilding. Yet this nutrient is essential to muscle-building and may be the bodybuilder’s most potent weapon. Vitamin A is necessary for the utilization of protein and the production of testosterone and other growth factors. In fact, one human study, discussed below, found the administration of vitamin A and iron to have results equivalent to the administration of testosterone itself. Rather than advocating the consumption of vitamin-A rich foods such as liver and natural food-based supplements such as cod liver oil, mainstream men’s health writers are advocating diets very high in protein, which deplete vitamin A reserves, leaving one to wonder whether the athletes who resort to over-the-counter steroid supplements might be able to achieve similar results by consuming a traditional diet, rich in vitamin A.

Desiccated Liver, the Wonder Energy Food!

According to Vince Gironda, the "Iron Guru", desiccated liver contains nucleic acids for proper amino-acid utilization, a growth factor and an anti-estrogen factor, which keeps testosterone levels high, and it is also a great anti-toxin.

"... liver tablets are one of the most potent training aids for the bodybuilder. The formula is an extract which contains only trace amounts of fat and cholesterol, but forty-five times the nutritional value of whole beef liver, yet with all the nutrients and enzymes of raw liver."

"...being very high in useable bodybuilding protein of the highest quality (it contains all the essential amino acids). It's a strong blood builder supplying heme iron. It is a very rich source of B vitamins, especially riboflavin, niacin, B-12, and the lipotropics choline and inositol. It's a good source of vitamins A, C, and D and other micro-nutrients and very rich in minerals such as the anti-oxidant selenium, phosphorous, copper, zinc, and GTF chromium (insulin regulator). In addition to these known nutrients, there are substances present in liver shown to have a beneficial effect on health, fitness, and endurance such as cytochrome P-450 and others that have yet to be identified. "

Vitamin A and Testosterone

Abundant animal research indicates the importance of vitamin A to the production of testosterone. Vitamin A crosses the blood-testis barrier in its alcohol form as retinol, where it is stored in the Sertoli cells and converted as needed to its more biologically active form, retinoic acid. Experiments with rats show that greater concentrations of vitamin A in the testes increase basal testosterone secretion, as well as transferrin, which is responsible for the transport of iron; and a variety of growth factors including IGF-binding protein 4 (which transports IGF), androgen-binding protein (which transports androgens), transforming growth factor-beta (which causes cell growth but suppresses cancer) and steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (which is responsible for the transport of cholesterol into the mitochondria for its conversion to steroids). Vitamin A also decreases estrogen production in the male testes. Rats that are deficient in vitamin A experience decreased testosterone until the accessory sex organs atrophy, indicating that vitamin A not only aids in, but is essential to, testosterone production.

One experiment using guinea pigs, which corroborates the many experiments done with rats, found a decrease in plasma testosterone associated with a deficiency in vitamin A. A human study comparing the dietary intakes of 155 pairs of male twins found a correlation between testosterone levels and vitamin A intake.

The most compelling study is one that assigned 102 teenage boys with short stature and delayed puberty into four groups: a control, a testosterone-supplemented group, a vitamin A- and iron-supplemented group, and a group that received both testosterone and the nutritional supplementation. All treatments were effective in inducing growth and puberty, whereas the control group did not gain weight or begin puberty in the same period of time. What is most amazing is that the degree of growth acceleration was similar in the testosterone-treated group and the vitamin A-treated group. Pubertal onset occurred in 9-12 months in the testosterone group, and by 12 months in the vitamin-A group.

This study suggests two things. The first is that the growth problems these boys experienced could have been avoided if their parents only had known the importance of serving a meal with liver on a weekly basis, as liver is very rich in both vitamin A and iron. The second is that, with equivalent hard work and dedication, athletes and body builders may be able to achieve similar results from their training by taking high-vitamin cod liver oil and eating foods rich in vitamin A on a regular basis as others receive from the common practice of supplementing with testosterone precursors.

Vitamin A and Prostate Cancer

Although some researchers have expressed concern that androgens such as testosterone may be involved in the etiology of prostate cancer, from vitamin A we can expect only more good news. Scientists in one controlled study administered doses of cyproterone acetate, an anti-androgen, and testosterone proprionate, to rats, followed by N-methyl-N-nitrosourea, a carcinogen, with one group treated with large doses of vitamin A. The incidence of prostate cancer in the group not treated with vitamin A was 65 percent, while only 18 percent and 20 percent of vitamin A-treated rats experienced dorsolateral and anterior prostate cancer, respectively.

Vitamin A and Protein Utilization

The utilization of protein requires vitamin A. Several animal studies have shown that liver reserves of vitamin A are depleted by a high dietary intake of protein, while vitamin A increases in non-liver tissues. One explanation for this is that adequate protein is necessary for vitamin A transport. In one study researchers fed radioactively-labeled vitamin A to rats on low-protein and high-protein diets, using the amount of radioactivity present in exhaled gases, urine and feces as a measure of the metabolism of vitamin A, and found that vitamin A is indeed used at a higher rate on a high-protein diet.

Vitamin A is not only depleted by a high intake of protein, but it is also necessary for the synthesis of new protein, which is the goal of the bodybuilder. Rats fed diets deficient in vitamin A synthesize protein at a lower rate than rats fed adequate vitamin A.7 Cultured skeletal muscle cells increase the amount of protein per cell when exposed to vitamin A and D, but not when exposed to vitamin D alone.

Eat Your Liver

Bodybuilders and other athletes interested in gaining muscle have an interest in boosting their levels of testosterone and other growth factors and maximizing their utilization of protein and its incorporation into muscle cells. Typical recommendations usually include very high amounts of protein, but exclude foods like liver that are high in vitamin A, and low-fat recommendations all but banish vitamin A entirely from the diet by excluding foods such as full-fat milk. The combination of a high-protein diet that depletes vitamin A and a low-fat diet that fails to provide vitamin A is a clear recipe for deficiency of this vital nutrient. Exercises that elicit a high demand for testosterone, such as squats and deadlifts, are often recommended for muscle growth, but without vitamin A the body cannot meet that demand for testosterone. It’s high time for athletes to forget the modern mantras and remember the dietary wisdom of the past, achieving a lean, muscular physique through traditional foods such as liver, egg yolks, full-fat milk, butter from grass-fed cows and cod liver oil.

Today, desiccated defatted liver is whole beef liver that has been concentrated using a vacuum and freeze drying process, utilizing no heat in the procedure. This process concentrates the nutritional content while removing the fat, connective tissues, and water without destroying any of the healthful ingredients via heat.

In almost all cases, the desiccated liver comes from fresh, hormone-free, organically raised, Argentine beef liver, carefully processed to preserve all the nutritional elements while removing any unnecessary components.

Why Argentina?

First, the cows supposedly live a life of luxury at home in the Pampas region of Argentina. A region of Argentina that is fertile in natural alfalfa, wheat, and oat grasses. The cattle roam freely on the grand, rich, grasslands. Organic cattle in the Pampas are required by the Argentine Cattle Association to be raised "stress free." They are never given any hormones, branded, or herded aggressively. The animals live outside, free range, running free. Law requires one acre of pasture land per organic designated cow. La Moo.

Just as the liver concentrates everything that is good for the body, it can also concentrate everything that is bad. Cattle from other countries, good ole USA included, have hormones, chemicals, antibiotics, pesticides & herbicides (from the plant matter they eat), fertilizers, drugs, steroids, and who knows what else, possibly concentrated in their livers. Not to mention the practice of taking meat scraps from the slaughter house and recycled back to the other cows. Mad cow disease, remember? Be sure to look for Argentinean, organic, liver in any product you choose

Heme Iron

Iron is an essential mineral and an important component of proteins involved in oxygen transport and metabolism within your body. Almost two-thirds of the iron in your body is found in hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to your body's tissues. Smaller amounts of iron are found in myoglobin, a protein that helps supply oxygen directly to muscle tissue, and in enzymes that assist biochemical reactions in cells. About 14-16 percent of your body's iron is stored for future needs and mobilized when dietary supplies are inadequate. The remainder iron is in your body's tissues as part of proteins that help your body function.

There are two forms of iron available from your diet: Heme and Non-Heme. Heme iron is found in red meats, poultry, and fish. Non-Heme iron is found in both plant, animal, and mineral sources. Note that Heme iron is not available from any vegetarian source in any significant quantity, if at all.

Now, exactly what is the difference between the two, and why would anyone care, you ask?

Well, most iron supplements found in your neighborhood health food store are 'inorganic', which is not easily absorbed by your body and can cause symptoms such as abdominal cramping, diarrhea, dark stools, etc. It can even be dangerous if too much is taken -- this is the Non-Heme iron. It's generally a molecule of iron compound not 'organically wrapped'. Non-Heme iron tends to be poorly absorbed, and is well known to generate the formation of free radicals, molecules that damage cell membranes throughout the body. Think of it as particles of rust, circulating throughout your body. Where's the Rust-Oleum?

That's why our body has magically found a way insulate us from our own body's iron by placing it within what is called a Heme ring (hemoglobin), effectively wrapping the iron in a plastic coated cover, keeping it pure and non-rusted. We need the iron for oxygen transfer, but we also need to be protected from it internally. Heme iron is this same natural form of iron already found and used in our own body. Rarely has an overdose occurred in taking Heme iron supplements. It's readily absorbed, and almost immediately usable by your body.

The richest source of natural occurring Heme iron is liver. Again, remember that Heme iron is involved in every process of oxygen transfer in your body, and almost all metabolic & protein synthesis processes.

Vitamin A toxicity

Many health conscious individuals avoid cod liver oil and other foods rich in vitamin A because of concerns about vitamin A toxicity. Yet, according to the Merck Manual, vitamin A poisoning is rare. In adults, vitamin A toxicity has been reported in Arctic explorers who developed drowsiness, irritability, headaches and vomiting, with subsequent peeling of the skin, within a few hours of ingesting several million units of vitamin A from polar bear or seal liver.

These symptoms cleared up with discontinuation of the vitamin A rich food. Other than this unusual example, however, only vitamin A from “megavitamin tablets containing vitamin A. . . when taken for a long time” has induced acute toxicity, that is, 100,000 IU synthetic vitamin A per day taken for many months. Unless you are an Arctic explorer, it is very difficult to develop vitamin A toxicity from food. The putative toxic dose of 100,000 IU per day would be contained in 3 tablespoons of high vitamin cod liver oil, 6 tablespoons of regular cod liver oil, two-and-one-half 100-gram servings of duck liver, 150 grams of beef liver, seven pounds of butter or 309 egg yolks. Bodybuilders undergoing strenuous exercise can consume even higher amounts without adverse effects.

Inter individual preferences

In our sport we know that everybody reacts differently to supplements, diets and workouts. What works for one, doesn't necessarily works for another. There is no magic formula but we have to constantly experiment, progress by trials and errors and find supplements, a diet and a workout programme that work for us and even that has nothing permanent . After all, it's the final result that matters.

So I find it a bit useless to reject liver tablets as completely obsolete or praise them as if it was the wonder supplement. My reaction would rather be to say: it has one advantage, it is very cheap and it proved effective in the past, so why don't you give it a try. If it works for you and gives you any significant result, then go for it. If you don't like the taste, find it hard to digest, find you can get better results with other supplements, then okay forget about it. Some guys have been using it in a stack with creatine and loved it. On the net I found a guy that loved it and had used many different brands, loving a few brands and disliked others. The bring home message, if you use desiccated liver and don’t like the result you can always try another brand.