Your Nutritional and Vitamin Supplement Information Resource

posted by Ronald on May 12

Vitamin A is an essential human nutrient. Essential means your body does not produce it, so you must obtain Vitamin A from your diet. Vitamin A and carotenoids are often cited as members of a family of antioxidant vitamins that can protect or reduce your risk to chronic disease.

In nature Vitamin A comes in two forms. One is retinol - something that you’ll find in liver, dairy products, eggs or cod liver oils. The second form of nature’s Vitamin A is beta-carotene, an orange-yellow to red pigment that the body converts to Vitamin A when necessary. Beta-carotene is found in brightly colored fruit and vegetables. The brighter the fruit, the more beta-carotene it contains. Large doses of synthetic Vitamin A can be toxic - so the rule here is to stick to whole foods or whole food supplements. The widely used term “antioxidant vitamin” is too narrow in scope for the properties attributed to vitamins like Vitamin A. A much better term is physiological modulators, which broadens both the set of compounds that are included and the possible nature of their actions, whether beneficial or adverse. In other words, Vitamin A is much more than an antioxidant!

You will find beta-carotene in vegetables and fruits like apricots, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, spinach etc. Note that while taking large amounts of Vitamin A supplements for a long time can be bad for your health, you don’t get the same adverse effects by eating a large amount of fruits or vegetables that contain beta-carotene - it goes back to the whole-food is better than any synthetic pill vitamin argument. Beta-carotene is best absorbed by combining with little oil or fat in our diet. I would recommend that a Vitamin A supplement regiment be combined with the “natural fish oil” forms of oil for maximum absorption. Combined with a balanced portion of Omega 3-6-9 (contained in the fish-oil), beta-carotene has been found to possibly reduce your risk of cancer.

Benefits of vitamin A:

• Acts as anti-oxidant, helping to protect our cells against cancer and other disease

• Vitamin A improves our vision and helps prevents night blindness

• Vitamin A promotes formation of strong bones

• Vitamin A guards us against bacterial, viral, parasitic infections

• Guards us against heart disease, stroke and lowers blood cholesterol level

• It can improve skin condition like acne or psoriasis

• A well-known wrinkle eliminator, vitamin A reduces fine lines in the skin and helps fade age spots.

• Vitamin A supplements may help kids who have respiratory problem

• The supplement is also believed to help people suffering from glaucoma and measles.

Vitamin A deficiencies among children in developing countries remains the leading cause of preventable visual impairments and blindness. Vitamin A deficiency is a significant contributor to increasing the severity of infections - particularly for those suffering from diarrhea or measles. Vitamin A deficiency is also likely to increase our vulnerability to other illnesses, especially in women and children, such as iron-deficiency anemia in women and growth-related problems in children.

Vitamin A plays a role in a variety of functions throughout the body, such as:

• Vision

• Gene Transcription

• Immune Function

• Embryonic Development and Reproduction

• Bone Metabolism

• Hematopoiesis

• Skin Health

• Reducing Risk of Heart Disease and Cancer

• Antioxidant Activity

Top sources of vitamin A include:

• Beef liver

• Egg yolk

• Cheddar cheese

• Fortified milk

Top sources of beta-carotene include:

• Sweet potato

• Carrots

• Pumpkin

• Cantaloupe

• Broccoli

• Apricots

• Spinach and collard greens.

For more information on the importance of Vitamin A in our diet and to read the full article, see the

All About Vitamins, Minerals, Antioxidants, and more

section of our Health and Nutrition library. It includes many important articles written to help you achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle.