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Your Online Guide » Health & Lifestyle » Benefits Vitamin A

[F21]Facts About Vitamin A
by Alex Rider, Ale
Vitamin A is a grouping of organic compounds that enable important bodily functions and processes to take place. Vitamin A is used in fighting off and preventing infection, the production of white blood cells, immune system regulation, cell differentiation and division, reproduction, vision and bone growth.

Two main categorizations of vitamin A exist:

Vitamin A from animal products tends to be found as preformed vitamin A. Preformed vitamin A is absorbed into your body as retinol (a very user-friendly/ active form of vitamin structure). Whole milk, livers and various fortified foods are good preformed vitamin A sources. Once in our bodies retinol is often changed in structure, e.g. to become retinal or retinoic acid, depending upon its designated use.

Vitamin A also comes from plant products, e.g. colorful vegetables and fruits. Initially it enters the body as provitamin A carotenoids, only to get changed to retinol. Examples of commonly found vitamin A carotenoids are alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin and beta-carotene (most efficiently converted into retinol).

563 carotenoids are known, only 10% are able to be converted by us into vitamin A (retinol). Health promoting qualities can come from many uncovertable carotenoids such as lycopene, zeaxanthin and lutein.

Antioxidant effects have been attributed to vitamin A in animals other than humans, which bodes well for us. Free radicals, harmful oxygen metabolism products, can lead to various chronic forms of disease.

Recommended daily allowances (RDA) of vitamin a vary depending upon your situation. Babies should have an intake of 400 micrograms (mcg) for their first 6 months, then 500mcg to the age of 1. Children aged 1-3 require 300mcg at 4-8 they need 400mcg, at the ages 9-13 600mcg is needed. Males aged 14+ require 900mcg, females of the same ages requiring 700mcg. Pregnancy dictates that 750mcg is suitable for 14-18 year old females, 770mcg from 19+. Female lactation requires the need for 1200mcg for 14-18 years of age, and 1300mcg for women of 19 and over.

Deficiencies in vitamin A can lead to night blindness (is required in retina pigments) and a reduced ability of you body to fight infections (lung epithelial cells become poor at removing pathogens), potentially leading to pneumonia. Small deficiencies in children can promote diarrheal and respiratory infections, slowed bone/ general body growth and an decreased effectiveness of their bodies fighting strong illnesses. Alcohol lowers the vitamin A stored quantities.

Vitamin A is fat soluble, meaning it is stored in the body when not being used. Too much of this vitamin becomes toxic leading to hypervitaminosis whereby liver complications, birth defects, disorders of the central nervous system and decreased mineral density in your bones can occur.

Vitamins are a very important part of a healthy balanced diet. They are essential for speeding up chemical reactions in our body and are also needed to prevent certain diseases. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the main sources of nearly all kinds of vitamins. Eggs and milk also provide a lot of vitamins. However, when we don't eat enough of these foods, it can cause vitamin deficiency within our body. This vitamin deficiency can be cured by taking a handful of multivitamin nutritional supplements. Vitamin supplements are important because other nutrients, such as minerals, work with the vitamins in the form of enzymes and coenzymes to help fight against certain diseases.

A few years ago people thought that eating a healthy diet is sufficient to keep an individual fit and healthy. However, recent research has shown that taking supplements is beneficial even for people that eat a healthy diet. This is because modern methods of farming serve to reduce the overall quality of vegetables, add to this the amount of time the vegetables sit on the shelves and it's no wonder that the amount of nutrients in these vegetables is reduced.



It has been established that water-soluble vitamins, like B vitamins (B6, B12 and folic acid), and vitamin C, are the ones that get absorbed by the bloodstream and often leave the body when we urinate. Because of this reason even healthy diets alone are not enough to keep these vitamins to a certain level which is necessary to keep a person fit and healthy. There are no clear symptoms to detect deficiency of vitamins in body. However, you can conclude vitamin deficiency if your daily food intake does not conform with prescribed healthy and balanced diet.

Although it's very important to consult a diet professional before consuming any kind of vitamin or mineral food supplement, it's also necessary that you do a little research of your own to find out how to choose a particular nutritional supplement product.

There are some precautions that you must consider before chosing which nutritional suppliment you should take. First of all you need to know that there's nothing like a properly functioning and healthy body. Vitamin supplements are no comparison for natural foods, but if you think you need vitamin supplements always put quality first. Don't go for cheaper products merely because they are cheap. Expensive products are often the ones that contain natural substances which are totally harmless and nearly as effective for the body as natural food sources. Your body's nutrition is very important, it should be worth investing in.

Always choose supplements which use ingredients that have been suggested by renowned scientists and dietitians. A combination of Flavonoids, Phytochemicals along with the necessary vitamins and minerals is thought to provide a balanced supplement and is useful for improving the overall health of an individual. Green tea is an excellent source of Flavonoids, just another thing that we can thank the Chinese for! If supplements have to be consumed, make sure they are made out of concentrated plant material.

One of the quality measures is to see if these vitamin products are coated with a colored or sugar coating to make them attractive. Don't go for these types of product, since they probably don't contain the essential substances that should be a part of any nutritional supplements. Good nutritional supplements are often composed of large tablets that smell of compressed plant-like material.

Always make sure that the company you are going to buy a vitamin supplement from is an authentic one and is either licensed or certified in providing health services. You can e-mail them or telephone them directly to ask some questions about their product. If they are accessible and provide satisfactory answers to your questions, you can consider buying their product. Your body is your temple, so when choosing supplements choose ones that you can trust!

This list of tips is by no means comprehensive, other tips and precautions must be considered before choosing the correct nutritional health supplement. Make sure that you buy a quality product that will prove to be useful for your body in the long run.

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Both Alex Rider & Chris DiCicco are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Alex Rider has sinced written about articles on various topics from Breast Enlargements, Air Purifier Cleaners and Breast Enlargements. For further specific vitamin information, e.g. see. Alex Rider's top article generates over 74000 views. to your Favourites.

Chris DiCicco has sinced written about articles on various topics from Pregnancy and Family Planning, Home and Bodybuilding Supplements. Christopher DiCicco is the owner of the online Nutritional Supplements Store and has been involved with health and nu. Chris DiCicco's top article generates over 110000 views. to your Favourites.
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