As measles spreads in Texas, New Mexico, and other states, a Texas child died from measles for the first time in the United States since 2015. In a March 2 Fox News editorial, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hinted at the importance of vaccination and stated that good nutrition, including vitamin A, is a “best defense against most chronic and infectious illnesses.”
However, doctors and public health professionals say that vitamin A is not a replacement for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Vitamin A is sometimes used to treat measles in the hospital—particularly in developing countries where people with poor nutrition tend to be vitamin A deficient. Experts also say that taking vitamin A when your body does not need it can be dangerous.
“It’s really important to distinguish prevention and treatment, and measles can be prevented, and it can be prevented one way: through vaccination,” Dr. Preeti Malani, infectious disease physician and professor at the University of Michigan, tells PGN. “The best treatment is to not get measles in the first place.”
Read on to learn the facts about vitamin A, what it’s used for, its risks, and what you should do to prevent measles.
What is vitamin A, and what does it have to do with measles?
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means that it’s stored in the body’s fatty tissue and in the liver, and it’s absorbed with the fat in a person’s diet. Vitamin A helps with our vision, reproduction, growth, and immunity.
Vitamin A deficiency can increase the risk of death from measles, among other infections. The World Health Organization recommends it as a supplement along with vaccination for children at risk of vitamin A deficiency in developing countries.
However, vitamin A deficiency is rare in the U.S. because most people get enough of it through their diet. (Malani says that’s why research about the use of vitamin A to treat measles is limited in countries like the United States.)
“Vitamin A deficiency is a major problem in developing nations, particularly those that don’t have access to staple foods that have vitamin A,” says Andrea Love, PhD, a biomedical scientist and founder of the health communication organization Immunologic, to PGN. “The problem is that that’s been kind of extrapolated to high-income countries [like the United States], where vitamin A deficiency is really not a concern.”
Under Kennedy’s direction, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its guidance to recommend the use of vitamin A to treat severe measles in young children, but specifically in a hospital setting and under a doctor’s supervision.
Does vitamin A prevent measles?
No. Vitamin A does not prevent measles. The MMR vaccine is the best way to prevent a measles infection.
“Vitamin A is not an alternative to vaccination,” Malani adds. “We have a safe and highly effective vaccine that’s been available for decades—it will protect individuals [and] communities from an outbreak.”
Are there any risks to taking vitamin A?
Yes. If your body doesn’t need extra vitamin A, there are risks.
According to the National Institutes of Health, taking too much vitamin A (specifically, the type found in supplements and some medications) can cause nausea, severe headaches, blurred vision, muscle aches, and problems with coordination. In severe cases, it can also lead to coma and death. Taking too much vitamin A while pregnant can cause birth defects.
“If you’re already getting sufficient vitamin A from your diet, then when you consume more than what you need, those levels are going to build up in your body, in your fat stores, in your tissues, and you’re going to be at risk of both acute and chronic toxicity,” adds Love.
Water-soluble vitamins like vitamin C “get filtered out by your kidneys and you would pee it out, but fat-soluble vitamins [like vitamin A], don’t get processed and excreted as quickly; they start to build up in the body,” she says.
What can I do to protect myself from measles?
The MMR vaccine is the best way to protect yourself from measles. The CDC recommends children get two doses of the MMR vaccine: the first dose between 12 and 15 months and the second one between 4 and 6 years old.
Experts recommend that adults who are not sure about their vaccination or immunity status against measles get at least one dose of the MMR vaccine. Additionally, adults who are at high risk for measles (like health care workers and people who travel internationally) may need two additional doses.
According to the CDC, you can also get an MMR vaccine within 72 hours of initial exposure to measles, which can give you some protection or make your illness less severe. Additionally, there’s an antibody (a protective protein called immunoglobulin) that a doctor may recommend for high-risk people within six days of being exposed to measles.
For more information, talk to your health care provider.