Top 03 Foods with Vitamin A and Their Benefits
Vitamin A can be referred as a group of compounds seen in both plant and animal foods. It comes in two forms: provitamin A carotenoids and preformed vitamin A.
Preformed vitamin A is the active form of the vitamin, which can be readily used by the body. It is soluble in fat and located in animal foods, such as eggs and liver, and contains retinoid compounds such as retinoid acid, retinol, and retinal.
Vitamin A helps to lower the occurrence and intensity of infectious diseases.
Over the past, several decades of research studies have demonstrated the benefits of vitamin A on diseases.
The correlation between diseases and Vitamin deficiency was first established in ancient Egypt. The Egyptians applied extracts from liver to the eyes of persons affected by night blindness due to poor nutrition.
It was suggested in 1892 that dieting may impact on susceptibility to diseases. This was based on an observation that children suffering from whooping cough or measles also developed blindness caused by a deficiency in vitamin A.
Further studies revealed that supplements containing carrots could lower the figures and intensity of respiratory diseases.
More studies in recent times have revealed that deficiency of vitamin A causes increased incidence of respiratory diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, etc.
Studies also revealed that a high dosage of vitamin A supplements in kids infected with measles heightened the number of immune cells known as circulating T cells. It was also revealed that vitamin A supplements could lower respiratory infections in infants.
Vitamin A can be gotten from the following sources:
- Pumpkin
- Sweet potato
- Carrots
Other Foods with Vitamin A sources include:
- Apricots
- Dark green, leafy vegetables
- Winter squash
- Cantaloupe
- Broccoli
- Mangos
- Red bell peppers
Vitamin A is soluble in fat; it is good for healthy sight, bones, skin, and other tissues in the body. It sometimes helps to fight cell damage and functions as an antioxidant.
Scientists have done studies concerning the effect of dietary vitamin A on the health of humans for the past several decades. It has been established that vitamin A is a vital nutrient responsible for a lot of important functions in the body. These include:
- Lowers the risk of some cancers.
- Protection of the eyes from age-related decline and night blindness.
- Reducing the risk of skin problems like acne and eczema.
- Providing for a stronger immune system.
- Promoting healthy growth and reproduction.
- Providing support for bone health and good healthy life.
Vitamin A has wide-reaching immune functions:
- Regulation of immune response
- It regulates and promotes both the adaptive and innate immune systems and the development of immune responses of a healthy nature.
- Vitamin A plays a major role in regulating different white blood cells (monocytes, neutrophils, macrophages, lymphocytes, and natural killer cells,) It also influences the immune cells to generate cytokines.
Sources of Dietary Vitamin A:
- Pastured animal liver
- From animals (preformed vitamin A)
- Cod liver oil
- Pastured poultry giblets
- Grass-fed cream and cheese
- Grass-fed ghee and butter
- Sockeye salmon
- Pastured egg yolks
- From plants
