Bear Meat and Hypervitaminosis A

Abstract

To the Editor.— The EDITORIAL, Dangers of Eating Bear Meat, (220:274, 1972) triggered recall of information acquired as a medical student and unused to date. In the seventh (1943) edition of Cecil's Medicine (p 662), there is a report of the pathology attributed to hypervitaminosis A, over the signature of Tom D. Spies. Severe illness from the ingestion of polar bear liver by dogs and men has long been known to Eskimos, and has been reported by members of arctic expeditions. Signs and symptoms include complete loss of hair, peeling of the skin, drowsiness, severe headache, and vomiting. In 1940, Douty reported development of violent headaches, nausea, and torpor the morning after he and several others ate freshly killed polar bear liver. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (sixth edition, 1970, p 419) lists among the effects of an excess of vitamin A in adults, headache, blurred vision or diplopia, nausea,