Vitamin A is a fat-soluble, essential vitamin. Vitamin A is important for normal vision, the immune system, and reproduction. Vitamin A also helps the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other organs work properly. It is available through animal and plant-based foods.
There are two different types of vitamin A. The first type, preformed vitamin A, is found in meat, poultry, fish, and dairy products. The second type, provitamin A, is found in fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based products. It’s recommended that men get 900 mcg, women 700 mcg and children and adolescents 300–600 mcg of vitamin A per day.
Important health benefits of vitamin A.
1. Protects Your Eyes from Night Blindness and Age-Related Decline: Vitamin A is essential for preserving your eyesight. The vitamin is needed to convert light that hits our eye into an electrical signal that can be sent to our brain.
2. Lowers Risk of Certain Cancers: Vitamin A plays an important role in the growth and development of our cells. Adequate vitamin A intake from whole plant foods may reduce your risk of certain cancers - cervical, lung and bladder cancer.
3. Healthful skin and hair: Vitamin A is important in the growth of all bodily tissues, including skin and hair. It contributes to the production of sebum, which is the oil that helps maintain levels of moisture in the skin and hair.
4. Supports a Healthy Immune System: Vitamin A plays a vital role in maintaining our body’s natural defence. It’s also involved in the production and function of white blood cells, which help capture and clear bacteria and other pathogens from the bloodstream.
5. Supports Bone Health: Eating enough vitamin A is also necessary for proper bone growth and development, and a deficiency in this vitamin has been linked to poor bone health. In fact, people with lower blood levels of vitamin A are at a higher risk of bone fractures than people with healthy levels.
Vitamin A is found naturally in many foods, like the following:
• Beef liver and other organ meats
• Some types of fish, such as salmon.
• Green leafy vegetables and other green, orange, and yellow vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, and squash.
• Fruits, including cantaloupe, apricots, and mangos.
• Dairy products, are among the major sources of vitamin A.
• Fortified breakfast cereals.
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