Polar Bear Liver Kills

Humans can't handle the vitamin A dose in polar bear liver. The organ stores vitamin A at extreme concentrations, and eating it floods the body with retinoids that cause acute hypervitaminosis A. Symptoms include severe headache, nausea, vomiting, peeling skin, and raised intracranial pressure, and the poisoning can be fatal. Historic accounts from Arctic expeditions describe people falling violently ill after consuming the liver.

Previous Fact Next Fact