Google searches for “does vitamin A help with measles” have skyrocketed by more than 5000% over the past month as the highly contagious virus continues to spread across the country.
The surge in online interest comes after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. touted vitamin A as a potential treatment for the measles. At least 245 US cases have been reported in the first three months of 2025, along with two deaths.
While vitamin A plays a crucial role in overall health, experts are warning that taking too much can lead to serious health risks. Here’s what you need to know about what vitamin A can — and can’t — do.
What is Vitamin A?
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble nutrient, meaning it dissolves in fat and is stored in your body’s tissues and liver.
It plays a key role in maintaining healthy eyes, skin, reproductive health, and a strong immune system. It also acts as an antioxidant, helping to protect cells from damage caused by free radicals in the body.
Since your body can’t produce vitamin A on its own, you have to get it from your diet. In the US, vitamin A deficiency is considered rare, typically affecting people with conditions that hinder the body’s ability to absorb nutrients.
There are a lot of foods rich in vitamin A, including dark leafy greens, yellow and orange fruits, and vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes and cantaloupes, as well as animal products like liver, eggs and milk.
What are the benefits of vitamin A?
One of the most well-known benefits of vitamin A is its vital role in supporting vision and eye health.
“It helps maintain eyesight, especially in low light,” Tony Yang, professor and associate dean for health policy and population science at the George Washington University School of Nursing, told Yahoo Life. “A deficiency can cause night blindness and increase the risk of vision loss.”
Research indicates that people who consume more vitamin A-rich foods are less likely to develop eye issues like cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. It has also been shown to protect against eye infections and even aid in tear production.
Vitamin A boosts your immune system by supporting the production and function of white blood cells, which help capture and clear harmful bacteria and other pathogens from your bloodstream.
Additionally, vitamin A plays an essential role in maintaining a healthy reproductive system, impacting both male and female fertility as well as fetal development.
For your skin, vitamin A can work wonders. Prescription creams and pills containing retinoids, a synthetic form of vitamin A, are often used to treat severe acne and psoriasis. Studies also suggest that topical forms of vitamin A can reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Some studies even point to a potential link between higher intake of vitamin A-rich foods and a lower risk of certain cancers, including those affecting the breast, colon and esophagus.
What vitamin A can’t do
Studies have shown that vitamin A supplements are likely ineffective in preventing head and neck cancer, reducing the risk of HIV transmission, or alleviating symptoms of lower airway infections.
The same probably goes for measles. Famous for the signature red rash it causes, the highly contagious virus can also manifest as a cough, congestion, watery eyes, sore throat and high fever.
While most people with measles recover, severe complications can occur, and measles causes over 100,000 deaths worldwide annually — mostly in unvaccinated children.
Earlier this month, Kennedy highlighted updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending taking vitamin A “under the supervision of a physician for those with mild, moderate, and severe infection.”
Writing in a Fox News op-ed, Kennedy claimed that “studies have found that vitamin A can dramatically reduce measles mortality.” However, doctors have warned that this guidance should not be misinterpreted as a substitute for vaccines.
“Vitamin A cannot replace vaccination,” Dr. Roy Gulick, chief of infectious disease at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, said at a media briefing last week. “Vitamin A neither treats measles nor prevents measles.”
Gulick added: “Why people are talking about vitamin A is that studies in developing countries showed that kids — predominantly with malnutrition — some had vitamin a deficiency. And so it was seen that if you gave vitamin A at the same time that you vaccinate people, they had better immune responses.”
Vitamin A deficiency can cause more severe measles infections. In a 2005 study, researchers found that giving these vitamin A-deficient kids under the age of two a double megadose of the nutrient (200,000 IUs twice over two days) after they’d been diagnosed with measles lowered their mortality rate.
Are there risks associated with vitamin A?
While vitamin A offers many benefits, too much can be dangerous. Unlike water-soluble vitamins, excess vitamin A gets stored in the body, and over time, that buildup can become toxic.
In the short term, taking a single large dose — over 200,000 micrograms — can cause nausea, vomiting, vertigo, and blurry vision, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Long-term use of more than 3,000 mcg a day can lead to serious side effects like bone thinning, liver damage, headaches, gastrointestinal issues, skin irritation, and joint pain. Excessive vitamin A during pregnancy has also been linked to birth defects.
Vitamin A can also interfere with other medications, including reducing their effectiveness. At least 23 drugs are known to interact with vitamin A, so if you’re on any of them, it’s a good idea to consult with your doctor before taking supplements.
