Details: Category: Region 9; Published: 16 January 2023

Vit A Vitamin A is an essential micronutrient that supports the daily replacement of skin cells and ensures that tissues such as the conjunctiva are able to produce mucous and provide a barrier to infection. It is also essential for vision under conditions of poor lighting, for maintaining a healthy immune system, cell recognition, for growth and development and for reproduction. It also helps the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other organs function correctly. Not getting enough Vitamin A can lead to vitamin A deficiency. The loss of vision and blindness are the main symptom of Vitamin A Deficiency. Vitamin A plays an important role in your vision. To see the full spectrum of light, your eye needs to produce certain pigments for your retina to work properly. Vitamin A deficiency stops the production of these pigments, leading to night blindness. Your eye also needs vitamin A to nourish other parts of your eye, including the cornea. Without enough vitamin A, your eyes cannot produce enough moisture to keep them properly lubricated. People with night blindness do not see well in the dark. As the vitamin A deficiency worsens, the conjunctiva dries out and corneal ulcers (open sores) appear. If untreated it eventually leads to vision loss and blindness.

The two main sources of vitamin A are animal and plant sources. All sources of vitamin A need fat in the diet to aid absorption. In animal sources, vitamin A is found as retinol, the ‘active’ form of vitamin A. Liver, including fish liver, is a very good source of Vitamin A. Other animal sources are egg yolk and dairy products such as milk (including human breast milk), cheese, butter, and fatty fish such as tuna and herring. Plant sources contain vitamin A in the form of carotenoids, which have to be converted during digestion into retinol before the body can use it. Carotenoids are the pigments that give plants their green color and some fruits and vegetables with red or orange color. Fruit and vegetable sources that are rich in carotenoids are often orange. Plant sources of vitamin A include mangos, papaya, squashes, carrots, red peppers, sweet potatoes and maize (but not the white varieties). Other good sources of vitamin A are red palm oil and biruti palm oil. Plant foods rich in beta-carotene also include dark green leafy vegetables, such as broccoli, spinach, and turnip greens. It is important that all sources of vitamin A are not overcooked, as this can reduce the vitamin A content. Ultraviolet light can also reduce the vitamin A content of food, so drying of fruits such as mangos should not be done in direct sunlight.

Vitamin A is essential to our health but too much of it can also put you in danger. Too much consumption of vitamin A can results to chronic vitamin A toxicity, often referred to as hypervitaminosis A and symptoms may include vision disturbances, joint and bone pain, poor appetite, nausea and vomiting, sunlight sensitivity, hair loss, headache, dry skin, jaundice, delayed growth, decreased appetite, confusion and even death. Our bodies cannot manufacture it and therefore it has to be included in our diet. Just remember that high-dose vitamin A supplements should be avoided unless prescribed by your doctor.

ZDN DMO II Rowence F. Zorilla, RND

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