Blog
Home   >   Nutrition   >   Sources and Benefits of Vitamin A

Sources and Benefits of Vitamin A

By + on March 5, 2013

What is Vitamin A

Along with many other Nutrients, Vitamin A is amongst one of the very important vitamins. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin and it is also known as retinol because it produces pigments in the eye’s retina. We ave touched on the benefits that vitamin A might offer – and it involves the eye. The eye needs a specific metabolite – retinal – a light-absorbing substance that is crucial for scotopic vision or low-light vision such as seeing in the dark or during the night. Vitamin A not only aids your eye, it is also important for healthy teeth, skeletal tissue, soft tissue, the skin, and mucous membranes.

Sources and Benefits of Vitamin A

Sources and Benefits of Vitamin A

To get Vitamin A you can get it from two main types of foods:

  • Retinol - a yellow, fat-soluble substance. It is the form of vitamin A absorbed when eating animal food sources. Sources include cod liver oil, butter, margarine, liver, eggs, cheese and milk.
  • Carotenes - such as alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, gamma-carotene, and xanthophyl beta- cryptoxanthin. Carotene is an orange photosynthetic pigment crucial for plant photosynthesis. The orange colors of carrots, sweet potatoes and cantaloupe melons come from its carotene content. Lower carotene concentrations are what give the yellowish coloration to butter and milk-fat. Some omnivores have yellow-colored body fat, such as chickens and humans.

Good Sources of Vitamin A

  • Apricots
  • Butter
  • Butternut Squash
  • Broccoli leaf
  • Cantaloupe
  • Carrots
  • Cheddar cheese
  • Cod liver oil
  • Collard greens
  • Dried Herbs
  • Eggs
  • Fortified cereals
  • Kale
  • Liver
  • Mangos
  • Milk
  • Papayas
  • Paprika
  • Peaches
  • Peas
  • Pumpkin
  • Spinach
  • Sweet potatoes

Benefits of Vitamin A

Vitamin A is an essential nutrient for a healthy body and it has many beneficial properties the following -

  • Improves your immunity
  • Improves and ensures healthy eyes
  • Softens and supple skin
  • Stronger bones and teeth
  • Prevents urinary stones
  • Reduces and prevents muscular dystrophy
  • Reduces and prevents acne
  • Prevents certain forms of cancer
  • Helps in the repair and replacement of old tissues
  • Slackens ageing
  • Lowers your cholesterol
  • Improves reproductive system

 

PDF Download    Send article as PDF