Is it true Cod Liver Oil lowers bone density?
When children don’t get enough vitamin D, the result is poor incorporation of calcium into the bones, which, later in life, leads to poor bone density. This likely accounts for the great frequency of bone fractures observed in elderly Scandinavians. It seems obvious, then, that women who drank cod-liver oil in childhood would have better bones than women who didn’t. And yet these authors found that the opposite—the cod-liver group actually had less calcium in their bones than the other women. Explanation: How to make sense of this paradox? The most likely cause is an interesting one: too much of a good thing. In addition to vitamin D, a teaspoon of cod-liver oil contains too much vitamin A. (Or at least it did until a few years ago, when manufacturers reduced the vitamin-A level in cod-liver oil to a safe level.) Now, vitamin A is wonderful stuff, too: People who don’t get enough of it suffer poor vision and eye damage and are at great risk for serious consequences if they develop infe
