Factors affecting vitamin a concentration in lambs liver

Extract

A number of recent reports relating to human health have suggested that pregnant women should limit their consumption of sheep's liver because of the possible dangers of hyper-vitaminosis from high vitamin A levels in this organ. Foetal defects, especially in early pregnancy, have been mentioned (Dept. of Health, 1990; Ilback, Busk, Halen & Slorach, 1991) as possible dangers resulting from high consumption of vitamin A.

Since the introduction of the sheep meat regime in 1980, under CAP, the output of early lamb production in Ireland has increased significantly. As early lamb has traditionally been a high priced product, geared towards the Easter market, high lamb performance is a high priority. This invariably necessitates high feed inputs in the form of concentrate feed. For various reasons, most commercial concentrates have added vitamina A levels higher than is necessary to meet animal requirements. It has been suggested that this source of vitamin A may be responsible for elevated vitamin A levels in the liver. Consequently, the aims of the present experiment were to quantify the vitamin A status in lambs liver selected from scientifically controlled production systems and to relate the values to lamb sex and age.