Vitamin A
July 29, 2008
Vitamin A is an essential human nutrient. It is a light yellow crystalline compound. It refers to the family of similar shaped molecule and that are called retinoid. It is actually a group of compounds that play an important role in vision, bone growth, cell division, cell differentiation and reproduction.
Vitamin A is also genetic term for a large number of related compounds. The retinol and retinal are often referred to performed as vitamin A. Retinal can be converted by the body to retinoic acid, it is a form of vitamin A and generally known to affect gene transcription. Vitamin A has also been called the “anti-infective” vitamin due to its role in supporting the activities of the immune system.
Sources- Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin. This means you don’t need it everyday because your body doesn’t need it immediately but the energy can be store in near future. Vitamin A can be found easily in cheese, milk, fortified, curd and margarine. Liver is also a good source of vitamin A. Vitamin A is found in foods that comes from animals such as eggs, whole milk and oily fish. This type of food is absorbed in the form of retinol and it is one of the most usable forms of vitamin A. Carrots, cantaloupes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, winter squashes, pink grapefruit, apricot, broccoli and most dark and green leafy vegetables are rich in Vitamin A.
Benefits
Vitamin A promotes healthy lining of eyes. It also preserves and improves eyesight.
Vitamin A helps to maintain the immune system which is helpful in fighting with viral infections by making white blood cells that destroys harmful bacteria and virus. So, if you don’t take proper amount of Vitamin A this will invite frequent viral infections.
Fortified foods such as fortified breakfast cereals also provide vitamin A.
Vitamin A is helpful in forming and maintaining healthy teeth, skeletal, mucous membranes, skin and soft tissues.
Side effects
If you don’t get enough amount of vitamin A, you must face some vision problems or infectious diseases. As lack of vitamin A is harmful, taking high amount of vitamin A is also harmful as if you take too much vitamin A, you can become sick. Heavy doses of vitamin A can affect birth defects. A man should take 0.7mg vitamin A per day and 0.6 mg of vitamin A will be sufficient for women. As babies and children are sensitive so, they can become sick after taking smaller doses of vitamin A.
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