Whereas this polar bear may simply make a meal out of you, one bite of his liver may very well be enough to ship you to the hospital. Liver has long been a staple in lots of diets. Deep-fried chicken livers are a favourite in components of the American South. In Japan, you may order a heaping helping of sashimi made with raw fish liver. As delicious (or disgusting) as a few of these dishes could sound to you, not each hen, fish or mammal necessarily provides one of the best ingredients for a culinary masterpiece. Travel to Germany and you can feast on traditional liverwurst. The native peoples of the Arctic have never shied away from cooking up some polar bear stew, but they've long identified to avoid eating the livers of assorted arctic creatures. In fact, should you ever have the prospect to try polar bear liver, think twice -- it often is the final meal you ever eat. Western explorers, nonetheless, realized the exhausting means. Maybe probably the most horrific symptom they encountered was peeling skin. Even the thick skin on the bottoms of a affected person's ft may peel away, leaving the underlying flesh bloody and uncovered. The worst instances ended in liver injury, hemorrhage, coma and dying. These explorers suffered from acute hypervitaminosis A, a condition resulting from the overconsumption of vitamin A throughout a brief period of time. Whereas milder cases merely involved flaking across the mouth, some accounts reported instances of full-body pores and skin loss. The polar bear's liver, much like those of arctic seals and huskies, accommodates extraordinarily high levels of retinol (the form of vitamin A found in members of the animal kingdom). On the next web page, we'll discover why polar bears carry round so much vitamin A of their livers and the way crucial their retinol tolerance is to their survival. Whereas some vitamins dissolve in water, vitamin A only dissolves in fat. Instead, it collects within the body's filtration organ, the liver, where it may well reach toxic ranges. Vitamin A is a crucial building block for a lot of animals. Which means, unlike other vitamins, excess vitamin A would not exit the body in urine. Humans solely require it in very small amounts, nevertheless it plays a significant position in eyesight, reproduction, fetal growth, development, immune response and the cellular formation of tissue. Vitamin ikea panda teddy A tolerability in people varies depending on age, gender and physical condition. With out sufficient vitamin A in your system, you might simply find yourself facing symptoms just as unhealthy as these related to hypervitaminosis A. Deficiencies can result in dry pores and skin, diarrhea, blindness, growth retardation and even dying. We usually absorb it by means of the consumption of foods equivalent to spinach, broccoli, eggs, milk and various meats. The truth is, their physiology advanced to tolerate a lot vitamin A for only one reason: to eat seals. Like many animals, polar bears profit from protecting a certain amount of vitamin A in their system, but there's nothing to point they really require such giant portions. In case you ate a bearded seal's liver, you'd endure from hypervitaminosis A, however the polar bear can tolerate and enjoy the feast. The seals retailer excessive ranges of vitamin A to be able to swiftly develop and nourish their young in a harsh, chilly surroundings. Within the wild, polar bears feed almost completely on bearded seals and ringed seals, both of which store excessive levels of vitamin A in their livers and blubber. Remember, vitamin A performs a key function in progress and natal improvement. So if the blue plate particular at your favourite diner is ever sautéed polar bear liver, you would possibly simply want to stick to a salad. The seals rely on this vitamin to shortly advance them by their vulnerable pup phases. Explore the hyperlinks on the next web page to study more about vitamin A and polar bear liver. One polar bear liver sometimes accommodates as a lot vitamin A as 79 to 115 hen eggs. That award-profitable meal comes in at practically twice the tolerable higher limits of human vitamin A consumption. What does global warming should do with the decline within the polar bear inhabitants? Brown, Dan. "Vitamin A Toxicity." Cornell College Division of Animal Science. AZA Bear Tag. "Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)." Affiliation of Zoos and Aquariums Standardizes Animal Care Tips. Eliasen, Mogens. "The Harmful(?) Vitamin A." K9joy Training. Higdon, Jane. "Vitamin A." Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State College. Hicks, R. Marian. "The scientific foundation for concerning vitamin A and its analogues as anti-carcinogenic brokers." Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. Worldwide federation of Competitive Eating. Lintzenich, Barbara, et al. Brookfield Zoo Conservation Biology and Research Heart. Canadian Journal of Zoology. Penniston, Kristina L. and Sherry A. Tanumihardjo. Mos, Lizzy and Peter S. Ross. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The University of Cambridge Dunn Nutritional Laboratory and Medical Research Council. Rodahl, K. and T. Moore. Slaughter, Kip. E-mail interview.
