When most people think of Vitamins, I am sure that they think of a daily multivitamin or a handful of pills to pop every day. I personally would not recommend a daily multivitamin, as there is some research that certain vitamins counteract each other, individual vitamins taken during their most useful time of day is a better recommendation, but first and foremost people should try to get their daily allotment of vitamins from their food...but this can be difficult.
Going through each and every vitamin is going to take a bit and may get a little confusing, so I am going to try to keep it as simple and easy to follow as possible - alphabetical order is what I'm going to try. In this outline the Vitamins will be matched with their value and what they do for the body and various foods where you can find it.
VITAMIN A: When people think of Vitamin A, they think of beta carotene, the most important form of Vit A. Vitamin A is essential for good vision, it is also good for reproduction, cellular formation, the adrenal glands, strengthening of mucus membranes, and the immune system. Vitamin A is mostly stored in the liver. Good sources of Vitamin A are liver, liver and fish oils, milk, eggs, orange and yellow veggies and fruits, leafy green veggies, carrots, cantaloupe, squash and sweet potato, tomatoes (and tomato products), and some vegetable oils.
Girls and African Americans are more prone than others to not have an adequate Vit A intake, especially children. In America true Vitamin A deficiency is not very common, but occurs mildly, most often, during times of increased nutritional demand, such as pregnancy and lactation. Vit A deficiency can cause diarrhea (or be caused by excessive diarrhea) and a sign of Vitamin A deficiency is night blindness, eye problems, or an increased occurrence of infection.
Vitamin A is involved in cell growth regulation and as such adequate intake of Vit A has been associated with lower levels of cancer; there is an especially lowered risk of lung cancer, though supplemental intake has shown an increased risk of lung cancer amid smokers. Professional and clinical studies have mixed reviews and results on the correlation between Vit A intake and lowered cancer risks; every study I have read has so much technical/medical jargon my eyes crossed, it was very confusing.
On the food intake aspect of Vitamin A I would recommend limiting the consumption of animal based Vit A (liver, liver and fish oil especially) as this can have detrimental affects on the body. Plant based Vit A is great, there is no known toxicity associated with high beta carotene intake (orange and yellow veggies, tomatoes). The RDA for Vit A is 333 IU for men and 266 IU for women, while the optimum daily intake is 10,000 to 35,000 IU, but no more than 4,000 IU during pregnancy.
So my final note on Vitamin A is that smokers are suggested to avoid high intake of Vitamin A. Supplemental Vitamin A can be preformed Vit A (animal based), provitamin A (plant based, beta carotene), or a combination. The best way to get adequate intake of Vit A is to eat plenty of orange and yellow veggies and fruits, leafy greens, etc. A note of warning, too much beta carotene intake can cause a yellowing of the whites of the eye...it is completely harmless though.
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