Vitamin A is a fat-soluble nutrient that plays a role in your system.

It is naturally in the foods that you eat and maybe consumed through nutritional supplements.

This report discusses vitamin A, including its benefits in addition to the effects of toxicity and deficiency.

What is Vitamin A?

Though Vitamin A is often considered a singular nutrient, it is the name for a group of fat-soluble chemicals, such as retinol, retinal, and retinyl esters.

There are two types of vitamin A.

Preformed vitamin A — retinol and retinyl esters — happens only in animal products, such as dairy, fish, and liver, while provitamin A carotenoids are abundant in plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, and oils

Your body needs to convert both forms of vitamin A to acid to use them.

Since vitamin A is fat-soluble, it is stored in body tissue for later use.

Most of the vitamin A in your body is stored on your liver in the form of esters.

These esters are then broken down into all-trans-retinol, which binds to retinol-binding protein (RBP). It enters your blood, at which point it can be used by your body.

Overview: Vitamin A is the generic term for a group of fat-soluble chemicals found in both plant and animal foods.

Works Within Your Body

Vitamin A is vital for fetal development of cell growth, immune function, health, and vision.

Possibly one of the best-known functions of vitamin A is its role in vision and eye health.

Retinal, the active form of vitamin A, combines with the protein opsin to form rhodopsin, a molecule necessary for color vision and low-light vision.

It also helps protect and take care of the cornea — the surface of your eye and the conjunctiva — a thin membrane that covers the surface of your eye and inside of your eyelids.

Vitamin A helps maintain surface cells like ear, lungs, intestines, bladder, and skin.

It supports immune function by encouraging the growth and distribution of T-cells, a sort of white blood cell that protects your body from disease.

What is more, vitamin A supports healthy skin cells, both male and female reproduction, and fetal development.

Overview: Vitamin A is required for eye health, eyesight, immune function, cell growth, reproduction, and fetal development.

Health Benefits

Vitamin A is an important nutrient which benefits health in several ways.

Potent Antioxidant

Provitamin A carotenoids like beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin are precursors of vitamin A and have antioxidant properties.

Carotenoids combat with free radicals — highly reactive molecules that can harm your body by creating stress.

Stress has been linked to chronic ailments such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and decline.

Diets high in carotenoids are associated with a lower risk of lots of these conditions, like heart disease, lung cancer, and diabetes.

Vital for Eye Health and Prevents Macular Degeneration

As stated earlier, vitamin A is critical to eye and vision health.

Adequate dietary intake of vitamin A helps protect against certain eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Studies show that high blood levels of beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin can lessen your risk of AMD by around 25 percent.

This risk reduction is connected to carotenoid nutrients’ defense of adrenal tissue by lowering levels of stress.

May Protect Against Certain Cancers

As a result of their antioxidant properties, carotenoid-rich fruits and vegetables may protect against certain kinds of cancer.

For Example, a study in over 10,000 adults decided that smokers with the maximum blood levels of alpha-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin had a 46% and 61% lower chance of dying from lung cancer, respectively, compared to non-smokers with the lowest intake of those nutrients.

What’s More, test-tube studies reveal that retinoids may inhibit the growth of certain cancer cells, such as kidney, breast and ovarian cancer.

Critical for Fertility and Fetal Development

Vitamin A is vital for both female and male reproduction since it plays a role in egg and sperm development.

It’s also crucial for growth tissue growth and maintenance, and health.

Vitamin A is integral to those trying to conceive and also to fetal and maternal wellbeing.

Boosts Your Immune System

Vitamin A impacts health by stimulating responses that protect your body from infections and diseases.

Vitamin A is included in the introduction of cells – and T-cells, which play roles in immune responses that protect against disease.

A deficiency in this nutrient contributes to elevated levels of pro-inflammatory molecules which diminish immune system reaction and function.

Overview: Vitamin A positively affects health by maintaining oxidative stress in check, boosting your immune system and protecting against specific diseases.

Deficiency

Though It is common in developing nations, since these populations may have access to food sources of vitamin A and provitamin A carotenoids, Vitamin A deficiency is uncommon in developed countries such as the US.

Vitamin A deficiency may lead to health complications.

According to the WHO, vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children worldwide.

Vitamin A deficiency increases danger and the severity of dying from infections like diarrhea and measles.

Additionally, Vitamin A deficiency increases the risk of nausea and death in elderly women and negatively influences the fetus by slowing growth and growth.

Severe symptoms of vitamin A deficiency include skin problems like acne and hyperkeratosis.

Certain Groups like premature babies, people with cystic fibrosis and pregnant or breastfeeding women in developing countries are more vulnerable to vitamin A deficiency.

Overview: Vitamin A deficiency may result in blindness, increased disease risk, pregnancy complications, and skin difficulties.

Food Resources

There are lots of nutritional sources of both preformed vitamin A and provitamin A carotenoids.

Preformed vitamin A is absorbed and used by your body than sources of provitamin A carotenoids.

Your Body’s ability to convert carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, into active vitamin A is dependent upon several factors — such as genetics, diet, general health, and drugs.

Because of this, those who follow plant-based diets — especially vegans — ought to be cautious about getting enough carotenoid-rich foods.

Foods highest in vitamin A are:

• Egg yolks
• Beef liver
• Liverwurst
• Butter
• Cod liver oil
• Chicken liver
• Salmon
• Cheddar cheese
• Liver sausage
• King mackerel
• Trout

Foods include:

• Sweet potatoes
• Pumpkin
• Carrots
• Kale
• Spinach
• Dandelion greens
• Cabbage
• Swiss chard
• Red peppers
• Collard greens
• Parsely
• Butternut squash

Summary

Preformed vitamin A is present in animal foods such as liver, salmon and egg yolk, while provitamin A carotenoids are found in plant foods, such as sweet potatoes, cabbage, and kale.

Toxicity and Dosage Recommendations

As vitamin A deficiency can affect health, becoming is also harmful.

The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamin A is 900 mcg and 700 mcg daily for women and men, respectively — that can be easily reached by following a whole-foods diet.

However, it is important not to exceed the tolerable upper limit (UL) of 10,000 IU (3,000 mcg) for adults to avoid toxicity.

Though It is likely to consume excessive preformed vitamin A via animal-based sources such as liver, toxicity is most frequently linked to excessive supplement intake and treatment with certain medicines, such as Isotretinoin.

It is stored in your body since vitamin A is fat and may reach levels.

Taking too much vitamin A may be deadly if ingested at high doses and may result in serious side effects.

Acute Vitamin A toxicity occurs over a brief period when one, excessively higher dose of vitamin A is consumed, whereas chronic toxicity occurs when doses over 10 times the RDA are consumed over a longer period.

The most common side effects of vitamin A toxicity referred to A — include:

• Vision disturbances
• Joint and bone pain
• Poor appetite
• Nausea and vomiting
• Sunlight sensitivity
• Baldness
• Headache
• Dry skin
• Liver damage
• Jaundice
• Delayed growth
• Reduced appetite
• Confusion
• Itchy skin

Though less common than chronic vitamin A toxicity, acute vitamin A toxicity is associated with more severe symptoms, including liver damage, increased cranial pressure and even death.

What is more, vitamin A toxicity may affect fetal and maternal health and may cause birth defects.

Steer clear of high-dose vitamin supplements to avoid toxicity.

The UL for vitamin A applies to vitamin A supplements, in addition to food sources of vitamin A.

High Intake of dietary carotenoids isn’t associated with toxicity, however, studies link beta-carotene nutritional supplements with an elevated risk of lung cancer and heart disease in smokers

Speak with your physician since vitamin A can be detrimental.

Summary

Vitamin A toxicity may cause symptoms, vision, such as liver damage Disturbances, death, and nausea. Vitamin A supplements Unless prescribed by your physician should be avoided.