According to the study, excess Vitamin A makes the body 'forget' past infections. The study was published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.
Vitamin A supplementation beyond normal has an opposite effect as it produces fewer key proteins that fight microbes, causing infections to which we would otherwise be immune, according to a study from Netherland. The study find that although Vitamin A supplementation can have profound health benefits when someone is deficient, supplementation of the vitamin above and beyond normal levels may have negative health consequences.
"This study helps to explain the mechanisms of anti-inflammatory effects of vitamin A and by doing so opens the door to identifying novel ways to modulate the immune response and restore its function in situations in which it is dis-regulated," said one of the researchers Mihai Netea from the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Furthermore, the cells were also stimulated with various microbial structures, which resulted in long-term activation or training of the cells. When the same experiments were performed in the presence of vitamin A, the microbial structures were no longer able to activate the immune cells.
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