These days the vast majority of people understand that taking vitamin supplements should improve their overall health and wellbeing but a new study suggests that too much of a good thing – in this case Vitamin A – may be worse than getting too little.

That Vitamin A in the body is universally accepted as crucial to good nutrition and especially to fetal development this study, conducted by researchers from Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York, set out to understand what will happen if a person has either too little, or indeed too much Vitamin A in their system.

According to Ulrich Hammerling, one of the study’s co authors, the natural incidence of Vitamin A deficiency amongst the general population is fairly low, but too much Vitamin A can lead to an energy deregulation that impacts the way cells grow and even lead to cell death.

Which brought the researchers to another component of their study, determining if Vitamin A could be useful in the fight against cancer cell development. The researchers utilized cells from both mouse and human bodies that contained certain specific genetic modifications of the naturally occurring chemical pathways that cause mitochondrial energy production. These were then divided into groups, some being grown with the addition of various levels of Vitamin A, the others without.

Through every step of the growth process the scientists monitored all the cells and noted the differences between the groups of cells in terms of mitochondrial activity. They found that Vitamin A was indeed a crucial part of the process, and both with too little or too much the natural functioning of the mitochondria was negatively affected. When this occurs, all kinds of organs can be negatively impacted.

Vitamin A is not only sold in supplement form, but is also found in numerous cosmetic creams. The use of Retinol , the main active component of Vitamin A, has increased steadily over the last years, as it is believed to help fight wrinkles, a big concern for many people of course.

However, says Dr Hammerling this study points to the danger of such products being used on a daily basis. “Our work illuminates the value and potential harm of vitamin A use in cosmetic creams and nutritional supplements, “he writes.

Although people may believe that the topical application of these creams would not affect them internally, according to the editor in chief of the FASEB journal , the publication in which the report was published , they are mistaken. “Beauty might be only skin deep, but vitamin A isn’t. It goes to the nucleus of our cells and can affect our health for better or worse,” says Dr Gerald Weissman, going on to add that overuse of such Vitamin A enhanced products could even lead to death.