Will I Die If I Eat Polar Bear Liver? Weighted Teddy

While this polar bear might simply make a meal out of you, one bite of his liver could possibly be enough to ship you to the hospital. Liver has long been a staple in lots of diets. Deep-fried rooster livers are a favorite in parts of the American South. In Japan, you possibly can order a heaping helping of sashimi made with raw fish liver. As delicious (or disgusting) as a few of these dishes may sound to you, not every chook, fish or mammal essentially offers the best components for a culinary masterpiece. Journey to Germany and you may feast on traditional liverwurst. The native peoples of the Arctic have by no means shied away from cooking up some polar bear stew, but they've long known to avoid consuming the livers of varied arctic creatures. The truth is, should you ever have the chance to strive polar bear liver, think twice -- it may be the final meal you ever eat. Western explorers, nonetheless, discovered the onerous method. Maybe essentially the most horrific symptom they encountered was peeling pores and skin. Even the thick skin on the bottoms of a affected person's feet might peel away, leaving the underlying flesh bloody and exposed. The worst cases ended in liver damage, hemorrhage, coma and demise. These explorers suffered from acute hypervitaminosis A, a situation resulting from the overconsumption of vitamin A during a brief time period. While milder cases merely involved flaking across the mouth, some accounts reported circumstances of full-body pores and skin loss. The polar bear's liver, much like those of arctic seals and huskies, contains extremely high ranges of retinol (the type of vitamin A found in members of the animal kingdom). On the following page, we'll uncover why polar bears carry around so much vitamin A of their livers and the way crucial their retinol tolerance is to their survival. While some vitamins dissolve in water, vitamin A solely dissolves in fats. As an alternative, it collects within the physique's filtration organ, the liver, the place it will probably reach toxic levels. Vitamin A is a crucial constructing block for a lot of animals. Because of this, in contrast to other vitamins, excess vitamin A doesn't exit the physique in urine. People solely require it in very small quantities, but it plays a significant function in eyesight, reproduction, fetal development, progress, immune response and the cellular formation of tissue. Vitamin A tolerability in people varies relying on age, gender and physical situation. Without enough vitamin A in your system, you might easily find yourself going through symptoms simply as dangerous as those associated with hypervitaminosis A. Deficiencies can result in dry pores and skin, diarrhea, blindness, progress retardation and even loss of life. We sometimes absorb it through the consumption of foods reminiscent of spinach, broccoli, eggs, milk and various meats. In truth, their physiology advanced to tolerate so much vitamin A for just one motive: to eat seals. Like many animals, polar bears benefit from keeping a certain amount of vitamin A of their system, but there's nothing to point they actually require such large quantities. In the event you ate a bearded seal's liver, you'd undergo from hypervitaminosis A, but the polar bear can tolerate and enjoy the feast. The seals store high ranges of vitamin A with a view to swiftly develop and nourish their younger in a harsh, chilly setting. Within the wild, polar bears feed almost completely on bearded seals and ringed seals, each of which store excessive ranges of vitamin A in their livers and blubber. Remember, vitamin A performs a key function in growth and natal development. So if the blue plate special at your favourite diner is ever sautéed polar bear liver, you would possibly simply wish to stick to a salad. The seals depend on this vitamin to shortly advance them by their weak pup levels. Explore the hyperlinks on the following page to study red panda teddy more about vitamin A and polar bear liver. One polar bear liver sometimes incorporates as a lot vitamin A as 79 to 115 rooster eggs. That award-successful meal is available in at almost twice the tolerable upper limits of human vitamin A consumption. What does international warming have to 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 Tips. 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 Competitive Consuming. Lintzenich, Barbara, et al. Brookfield Zoo Conservation Biology and Analysis Center. 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, Ok. and T. Moore. Slaughter, Kip. E-mail interview.