The health importance of vitamin A and how to get it

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that the body can store. It offers many important health benefits like supporting the immune system, improving vision and eye health, helping fetal growth and development, and supporting reproductive health.

Vitamin A is naturally found in many foods and can also be taken as dietary supplements.

In this article, we'll learn what vitamin A is, its health benefits, where to get it, the right daily dose, and what happens if you have too little or too much.

What is vitamin A?

Even though vitamin A is often called a single nutrient, it's actually a group of fat-soluble compounds, including:-

• Retinol.

• Retinal.

• Retinyl esters.

Vitamin A comes in two forms in food. The first is preformed vitamin A, including retinol and retinyl esters, found in animal foods like dairy, liver,and fish.

The other form is provitamin A or carotenoids, common in plant foods like fruits and vegetables and oils. The body can convert both forms into retinal and retinoic acid, which are the active forms of vitamin A.

Vitamin A is fat-soluble, so it gets stored in the body for later use. Most of it is kept in the liver as retinyl esters.

Recommended daily doses of vitamin A

You can get the recommended daily doses by eating a balanced and varied diet with animal and plant products, The recommended daily doses of vitamin A vary by age, gender, and condition according to the table below:-

Sources of vitamin A

There are many food sources for both vitamin A and provitamin A. The body absorbs preformed vitamin A from plant sources that contain carotenoids or provitamin A.

Foods with the highest amount of preformed vitamin A include:

• Egg yolk Egg.

• Beef liver.

• Butter.

• Cod liver oil.

• Chicken liver.

• Salmon fish.

• Mackerel fish.

• Cheddar cheese.

Foods high in provitamin A carotenoids, like beta-carotene, include:-

• Sweet potatoes.

• Pumpkin.

• Carrot.

• Cabbage.

• Spinach.

• Cantaloupe.

• Pepper Red.

• Papaya.

You can get vitamin A from standalone supplements or from other vitamins and minerals, but you should talk to a doctor before taking any supplements.

The health importance of vitamin A

Vitamin A is essential for the body. It supports cell growth, boosts immune functions, is vital for fetus development, and helps keep eyes healthy.

The most well-known job of vitamin A is supporting good vision and eye health. Retinal, the active form of vitamin A, binds with opsin protein to make rhodopsin, a molecule needed for color vision and seeing in low light.

It also helps protect and maintain the cornea, the outer layer of the eye, plus the conjunctiva, the thin membrane covering the eye’s surface and inside the eyelids.

Vitamin A also helps keep surface tissues healthy, like the skin, intestines, lungs, bladder, and inner ear. It supports immune functions by helping the growth and distribution of T cells, a type of white blood cell that fights infections.

Other benefits vitamin A offers the body include:-

• Providing Antioxidants Powerful.

• Prevention of chronic diseases.

• Prevention of age-related macular degeneration.

• Protection against some types of cancer.

• Supports fertility and embryo growth.

• Supports the health of pregnant women and those wanting to conceive.

• Boosts immune response.

Vitamin A deficiency

Although vitamin A deficiency is rare in developed countries, unfortunately it's common in developing countries where people have limited access to foods that contain this important vitamin.

According to the WHO, vitamin A deficiency can cause many health problems and is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children worldwide.

Also, vitamin A deficiency raises the risk of death from infections like measles anddiarrhea, research shows that vitamin A deficiency increases the risk ofanemia and death in Pregnant women, and it negatively affects fetuses by slowing down growth and development.

Vitamin A deficiency symptoms include:-

• Vision problems.

• Dry eyes.

• Increased keratinization.

• Dry skin.

• More acne.

• Slow wound healing.

• Delayed growth in children.

• Getting infections.

• Delayed pregnancy.

Side effects and toxicity of vitamin A.

Just like lack of vitamin A harms health, too much can also be dangerous. The daily recommended amount is 900 micrograms for men and 700 for women, which is easy to get from your diet.

To avoid vitamin A toxicity, it's important not to exceed the upper limit of about 3000 micrograms for adults. While you can get too much from food, toxicity is usually linked to taking too many supplements or certain medications.

Since vitamin A is fat-soluble, it gets stored in the body and can build up to unhealthy levels over time. Taking too much can cause serious side effects, including death.

Acute vitamin A toxicity happens quickly after taking one very high dose of vitamin A. Chronic toxicity occurs when doses over 10 times the recommended daily amount are taken for a longer time.
 

The most common side effects of chronic vitamin A toxicity, often called hypervitaminosis A, include:

• Vision problems.

• Hair loss.

• Joint and bone pain.

• Headaches.

• Loss of appetite.

• Dry skin.

• Vomiting and nausea.

• Liver damage.

• Sunlight sensitivity.

• Jaundice.

• Growth delay.

• Confusion.

• Skin itching.

Though less common than chronic toxicity, acute toxicity comes with more severe symptoms, including liver damage, increased skull pressure, and even death.

So, since taking too much vitamin A can be harmful, you should check with a healthcare professional before taking vitamin A supplements.

In the end, both too little and too much vitamin A can cause serious side effects. So, you should get it in the recommended daily doses. Also, following a healthy and balanced diet is a great way to give your body safe amounts of these important nutrients.

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