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Edited by A. Vahlquist and M. Duvic
359 pp, $249.95
New York, NY, Informa Healthcare, 2007
ISBN-13: 978-0-8493-3992-9

JAMA. 2008;299(13):1611-1612.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Vitamin A has been shown to play a distinct role in the development of normal epithelial cells ever since seminal work in 1925 demonstrated that lack of vitamin A in laboratory rats would result in cutaneous hyperkeratosis as well as mucosal hyperplasia and metaplasia. Vitamin A is now recognized to be essential for maintaining epithelial and mucosal surfaces, good vision, adequate hematopoiesis, and immunocompetence.

The activity or lack of vitamin A has been known from ancient Egyptian times (3500 BCE), when "roasted ox liver, pressed, applied (to the eye)" was shown to be effective in eliminating "sharew," which was probably night blindness. Seventh-century Chinese physicians recommended the use of pig's liver to alleviate this condition. Fast-forward to the 19th century when an Austrian naval physician, Eduard Schwarz, proved that boiled ox liver was effective in treating hemeralopia, better known as night blindness.¹

Vitamin A refers to chemicals derived from . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Lawrence Charles Parish, MD, Reviewer
Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology
Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
larryderm@yahoo.com

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