If you are sitting or standing around rubbing your chin while contemplating what your next move is in terms of selecting a nutrient to add to your daily regimen, consider this: start at the very beginning of the alphabet. Start with Vitamin A (if you haven’t already). Vitamin A, also known as retinol, is an antioxidant that can help regulate your health in several areas.
That includes vision, immunity, and growth and development. Got your attention yet?
As you might have suspected, vitamin A can be sourced from a variety of good types of edibles such as spinach and dairy products as well as food abundant in beta-carotene, a nutrient closely associated with other foods such as green leafy vegetables, carrots, and cantaloupes. Problem is, if your dietary habits rarely include those food types, you stand the chance of having an A deficiency.
What Else Can Be Said about Vitamin A?
Glad you asked. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that is stored in your liver, which is located in the upper gith-hand segment of your abdominal cavity right below your diaphragm and right above your stomach, right kidney, and intestines. Not that knowing the location of your liver and its store of vitamin A will in of itself will make you see better, but it is good at least knowing that your body does store vitamin A as a readymade supply.
4 Likely Health Benefits of Vitamin A
Now, you might wonder, what are some of the particulars regarding the health benefits of Vitamin A? As with any supplement, herb, or nutrient, before diving in and adding vitamin A to your regimen, it would behoove you to discuss its merits and topics of possible concern with your family doctor or other healthcare professional. A healthy dose of caution is never a bad idea. Here are four areas of your health in which vitamin A can be a handy asset:
1. Night vision. Actually, vitamin A plays an important role in all aspects of vision by helping to convert the light arriving at your eye into an electrical signal that is then transmitted to the brain. People with an A deficiency might not notice a problem with their vision during daylight hours, but after sundown they are more susceptible to night blindness, also known as “nyctalopia.” That’s because their A-deficient eyes have difficulty picking up light at lower levels. Vitamin is also known as “retinol” because it is the nutrient responsible for manufacturing your retina’s pigments.
2. Age-related macular degeneration. A large clinical trial indicated that people considered to be at a high risk of developing age-related macular degeneration could mitigate that chance by 25 percent by ingesting a certain mix of vitamins that include beta-carotene, like vitamin A. Note, though, that the specific role that beta-carotene had in that trial was unknown.
3. Immune system. Anyone familiar with the part that certain vitamins can play in bolstering your immune system will immediately think of Vitamin C. But C has company in the vitamin world in the form of vitamin A, a low level of which in the body has been linked to both a vulnerability to infections and a delay in recovery time when getting sick. One thing vitamin A does is help stimulate the production and function of white blood cells, which in turn work to capture and remove harmful bacteria and other pathogens from your blood.
4. Growth and development. Vitamin A is active in assisting in the growth and development of a human almost right from the time of conception. In fact, it is part of the reproductive process in that it aids in the growth of the sperm as well as the baby inside the mother’s womb, while also having a part in the growth of the mother’s placenta. Vitamin A’s importance in growth and development continues well after birth, too, helping to spur the development of epithelial tissues, to include the mucous membranes, the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, the bladder, skin, and even bones and teeth.
In summary, vitamin A does not have the widespread “following” and popularity as its alphabetized associates, like the vitamin B family (B12 in particular), vitamin C or even vitamin E, but it has earned a spot high on the list of crucial nutrients, for good reasons described above. It’s worth keeping an eye out for it next time you shop supplements and nutrients. A couple other quick notes about vitamin A: 1. You will likely find that a multivitamin that includes A is your best over-the-counter source for A. 2. Too much vitamin A can be harmful for your body. Like we said earlier, be sure to discuss its usage with your physician or other licensed healthcare professional.