Vitamin A
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Vitamin A, which is also called retinal, is a very essential part of being able to obtain or maintain a healthy body. Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin and plays an important part in helping us to have good vision, strong bones, healthy skin and hair. Vitamin A also helps us to keep our bodies immune functions and reproductive functions operating properly.
If we were to consider vitamins as an army, intended to protect our bodies from enemies that would harm it, vitamin A would be the leading general. Vitamin A is often referred to as the anti-infective vitamin. It is vitamin A which is the most needed of all the vitamins to keep our immune systems functioning properly and normally.
Vitamin A can be found in a number of different foods which we, here in America , eat normally without even realizing that we are indeed increasing our intake of vitamin A. These foods include such things as breakfast cereals which are fortified with vitamin A, eggs, butter, whole milk, low fat milk, to which vitamin A supplement is added, sweet potatoes, raw carrots, cantaloupe, spinach and butternut squash are all foods which contain vitamin A. Vitamin A can also be found in a number of animal products, primarily liver. Personally I think many of us would be very low on vitamin A if liver were to be our only source of this important nutrient.
Studies have shown that a lack of vitamin A is one of the leading causes of blindness in developing countries. They have shown that children in these countries who are low on vitamin A are also more apt to have respiratory problems and diarrhea and that they are more apt to die from infectious diseases such as measles than children who consume a sufficient amount of vitamin A. While these things are not as prevalent in the United States where the average American is said to consume an adequate amount of vitamin A, it is important to note that it does happen, primarily with those persons who are living below the poverty level.
A lack of the proper amount of vitamin A can also contribute to such physical disorders as osteoporosis, which is a bone condition that especially attacks older women and results in fragile bones.
A lack of the proper amount of vitamin A can cause birth defects; however it is important to see to it that it is the proper amount of vitamin A, since too much vitamin A can also produce birth defects. This is an area in which a doctor or a health specialist should definitely be consulted in order that in trying to keep both herself and the unborn child healthy, the mother doesn't inadvertently consume an inappropriate amount of vitamin A.
Vitamin A is one of the best friends our bodies can have when used appropriately and is one of the leading factors in helping us to maintain and obtain healthy bodies.
