While this polar bear may easily make a meal out of you, one bite of his liver could be sufficient to ship you to the hospital. Liver has lengthy been a staple in lots of diets. Deep-fried hen livers are a favourite in elements of the American South. In Japan, you'll be able to order a heaping helping of sashimi made with uncooked fish liver. As scrumptious (or disgusting) as some of these dishes might sound to you, not each bird, fish or mammal essentially offers the perfect components for a culinary masterpiece. Travel to Germany and you can feast on conventional liverwurst. The native peoples of the Arctic have never shied away from cooking up some polar bear stew, but they've lengthy known to keep away from eating the livers of assorted arctic creatures. In fact, if you ever have the prospect to try polar bear liver, suppose twice -- it may be the final meal you ever eat. Western explorers, however, learned the arduous means. Perhaps essentially the most horrific symptom they encountered was peeling pores and skin. Even the thick skin on the bottoms of a patient's ft might peel away, leaving the underlying flesh bloody and uncovered. The worst instances ended in liver harm, hemorrhage, coma and demise. These explorers suffered from acute hypervitaminosis A, a situation ensuing from the overconsumption of vitamin A throughout a brief period of time. Whereas milder circumstances merely involved flaking around the mouth, some accounts reported cases of full-physique pores and dog teddy bear big size skin loss. The polar bear's liver, much like these of arctic seals and huskies, contains extremely excessive ranges of retinol (the form of vitamin A present in members of the animal kingdom). On the subsequent page, we'll uncover why polar bears carry around a lot vitamin A of their livers and how crucial their retinol tolerance is to their survival. While some vitamins dissolve in water, vitamin A only dissolves in fats. Instead, it collects within the physique's filtration organ, the liver, where it will probably attain toxic levels. Vitamin A is an important building block for a lot of animals. This means that, unlike different vitamins, excess vitamin A doesn't exit the body in urine. Humans solely require it in very small quantities, but it surely performs an important function in eyesight, reproduction, fetal development, development, immune response and the cellular formation of tissue. Vitamin A tolerability in people varies depending on age, gender and physical condition. Without sufficient vitamin A in your system, you could possibly simply end up facing signs simply as dangerous as those associated with hypervitaminosis A. Deficiencies can result in dry pores and skin, diarrhea, blindness, growth retardation and even demise. We usually absorb it via the consumption of foods comparable to spinach, broccoli, eggs, milk and varied meats. The truth is, their physiology developed to tolerate a lot vitamin A for only one reason: to eat seals. Like many animals, polar bears profit from conserving a certain amount of vitamin A of their system, however there's nothing to indicate they really require such massive quantities. When you ate a bearded seal's liver, you'd endure from hypervitaminosis A, but the polar bear can tolerate and enjoy the feast. The seals store high ranges of vitamin A to be able to swiftly grow and nourish their younger in a harsh, chilly environment. Within the wild, polar bears feed virtually exclusively on bearded seals and ringed seals, each of which retailer high levels of vitamin A in their livers and blubber. Remember, vitamin A plays a key function in development and natal growth. So if the blue plate special at your favorite diner is ever sautéed polar bear liver, you would possibly simply wish to stick to a salad. The seals rely on this vitamin to rapidly advance them by way of their susceptible pup levels. Discover the hyperlinks on the next web page to study more about vitamin A and polar bear liver. One polar bear liver typically accommodates as a lot vitamin A as 79 to 115 hen eggs. That award-winning meal comes in at almost twice the tolerable higher limits of human vitamin A consumption. What does international warming should do with the decline within the polar bear population? 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 Guidelines. Eliasen, Mogens. "The Dangerous(?) Vitamin A." K9joy Education. Higdon, Jane. "Vitamin A." Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. Hicks, R. Marian. "The scientific foundation for relating to vitamin A and its analogues as anti-carcinogenic agents." Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. International federation of Aggressive 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 College of Cambridge Dunn Nutritional Laboratory and Medical Analysis Council. Rodahl, Okay. and T. Moore. Slaughter, Kip. E-mail interview.
