Vitamin A: The Missing Piece in Your Health Puzzle
What is vitamin A?
Vitamin A health benefits
- Protects eyes from night blindness and age-related decline: It is essential for preserving eyesight, it helps the retina, the part of the eye that detects light, to function properly.
- Antioxidant properties: It may protect cells against the effects of free radicals, molecules produced when the body breaks down food or is exposed to tobacco smoke and radiation.
- Eye health: Adequate dietary intake of vitamin A helps protect against certain eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration.
- Organ health: Vitamin A benefits nearly all the organs in your body. It supports the growth of the cells and tissues needed for organs like the heart, lungs, and kidneys to function. Early vitamin A deficiency during preconception or pregnancy could lead to altered gene expression, impacting the baby’s heart.
- Anti-aging vitamin: Vitamin A benefits are wide-reaching and have an influential role in brain function, skin, heart, kidneys, lungs, vision, and immune system health.
Foods rich in vitamin A
- Liver and organ meats
- Egg yolks
- Dairy products such as milk and cheese
- Fish such as salmon, tuna, and cod liver oil
- Orange and yellow fruits and vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and cantaloupe
- Dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale, and collard greens
- Peppers, apricots, and papaya
- Some fortified foods such as breakfast cereals and milk
Vitamin A deficiency
- Night blindness, or difficulty seeing in low light or darkness
- Dry, itchy eyes
- Dry, scaly, or rough skin
- Slow wound healing
- Dry, cracked lips
- Increased susceptibility to infection
- Xerophthalmia, a condition that can lead to blindness
- Increased risk of death from infections
- Delayed growth and development in children
- Increased risk of maternal mortality during pregnancy and childbirth
- Poor bone health and risk of fractures.
Vitamin A excess
- Nausea and vomiting
- Dry, itchy skin
- Loss of appetite
- Joint and muscle pain
- Birth defects in pregnant women
- Liver damage
- Bone pain and fractures
- Drowsiness and confusion
- It is a fat-soluble Vitamin, that requires fat for effective absorption.
- It helps cut down excess sebum production, which reduces the risk of acne and acne-related breakouts.
- Popeye the Sailorman, the famous cartoon character, is known for his love of spinach, which is high in Vitamin A.
- Beta-carotene, a form of Vitamin A found in plants, is responsible for the orange color in fruits and vegetables like sweet potatoes, carrots, and pumpkins.
- Consuming about 2 egg yolks per day provides all the required Vitamin A.
- A polar bear’s liver is so rich in Vitamin A that eating an entire liver can be fatal to humans.
Why is Vitamin A important for sports performance?
- Vision: Vitamin A plays a crucial role in maintaining good vision, it’s essential for the proper functioning the retina, the part of the eye responsible for sensing light and sending visual information to the brain. This is especially important for sports that require good visual acuities, such as baseball, tennis, and golf.
- Immunity: Vitamin A helps to boost the immune system, by promoting the production of white blood cells that fight off infection and disease.
- Muscle growth: Vitamin A plays a role in the growth and repair of body tissues, including muscle. This is important for athletes, as muscle growth and repair are essential for maintaining strength and endurance.
- Healthy skin: Vitamin A also helps to keep skin healthy and moisturized, this is important for athletes, as skin may be exposed to the sun, wind, and other environmental factors during training or competitions.