Vitamin A & Its Role To Your Health

Your grandmother may have told you that eating carrots would help you see better. Carrots do contain something called provitamin A carotenoids, which may or may not be real. There are pigments found in certain plants that the body can convert into vitamin A, which is important for vision.

Vitamin A is also good for the immune system and bone formation. Vitamin A comes in a variety of ways, much as other vitamins. Retinol is one of the most usable sources of vitamin A, and it can be present in the liver, eggs, and milk.

Beta carotene, present in cabbage, sweet potatoes, spinach, and cantaloupe, is one of the most abundant provitamin A carotenoids that the body quickly transforms to retinol. Vitamin A is another vitamin that is often used to fortify breakfast cereals.

Vitamin A is fat-soluble, meaning it is stored in the body, mostly in the liver. That also implies that toxic amounts of it will accumulate in the body. Since the body stores up reserves of vitamin A, the conversion of beta carotene to vitamin A slows down. This rarely occurs from food sources.

When people develop vitamin A toxicity, it is typically a result of consuming too much in the form of supplements or pills. Vitamin A toxicity can lead to complications with the liver, the central nervous system, bone density loss, and birth defects.

Vitamin A deficiency is uncommon in the United States, although it is prevalent in countries where malnutrition is severe. Vitamin A is important for the immune system and vision, as previously mentioned. This is because vitamin A is used by the body to make internal tissues such as those that line the eyes, lungs, and intestines.

Since vitamin A deficiency weakens these linings, infectious bacteria can more easily infiltrate them, making people with vitamin A deficiency more susceptible to illnesses, sickness, blindness, and respiratory problems.

Aside from the malnourished, those that drink a lot of alcohol and those with such metabolic conditions that affect how fat and other nutrients are consumed by the body are at risk for vitamin A deficiency.

Asides from taking Vitamin A supplements, having a sufficient supply of Omega-3 in the body is also healthy for the body.