What is
Vitamin A?
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, naturally
present in a lot of foods.
Why is
Vitamin A so important?
Vitamin A is one of
the 4 necessary vitamins needed in the human body to live and function. Vitamin
A is specifically important because it is necessary for vision, it supports the
immune system, red blood cell production, and regulates genes. There are 3
forms of vitamin A used in the body, including retinal, retinol, and retinioc
acid. These 3 forms work in very specific ways. Retinal is a metabolite of vitamin A
required for vision. In relating this function to carbohydrates, retinal
is like the glucose, and instead of making energy for the body, it makes the
necessary metabolite required for vision. Retinol is the stored version of
vitamin A that can be converted to retinal when needed. Retinol in a way acts
as a carbohydrate, but instead of providing back-up energy for the body in the
liver and muscles, it provides back up retinal that can be used in a person's
vision system. Retinioc acid is the growth factor needed to regulate genes.
These forms of vitamin A give us the sight that we need to see everything and
to see colors, supports the immune system, and basically gives support to the
things that we do everyday.
How does Vitamin A affect my diet?
In the majority of
cases, Vitamin A is naturally in a lot of foods, but it is added into some
food. A couple of foods that have added Vitamin A include milk and cereal, but
more the more important foods with vitamin A are of the following. Animal
liver(surprisingly), peppers and paprika, sweet potatoes, carrots, dark green
vegetables, dried apricots, cantaloupe, and dried herbs are of the most Vitamin
A rich foods. From a more broad perspective, Vitamin A foods come from dairy
products, meats, some fruits, and dark green vegetables. The absorption of
daily vitamin A is very important in order to maintain healthy vision function,
immune system function, gene regulation, and red blood cell production. The
daily intake of Vitamin A that is necessary is 3000 IU (international units)
for men, which is about 900 micrograms per day, and 2300 IU for women, which is
about 700 micrograms per day. This amount varies with age, and fluctuates with
certain situations, which can vary from pregnancy, lactation, sickness, and
STDs.
Can Vitamin A
be harmful?
There is a limit to
how much vitamin A a person should intake. At a certain limit, Vitamin A
becomes dangerous. Some of these dangers include dizziness, nausea, coma, and
in some cases, even death. In pregnant women, if they intake too much vitamin
A, it can conclude in defects with the baby. Unless a doctor is to say
otherwise, vitamin A intake should follow certain limits. This also varies with
age, in that if a person is older, they can handle a larger intake of Vitamin
A.
What happens if one doesn't intake enough Vitamin
A?
There are multiple
signs that show that a person hasn't been getting enough vitamin A. One of the
first and most common signs is Night-blindness, where a person is unable to see
in dim lighting or low light/ dark situations. Another mild miss-sense is
xeropthalmia, which means that after a quick change of lighting, you are
basically temporarily blinded for a longer period than usual. Dry eyes can also
be a problem. Eventually, if the lack of Vitamin A continues, then it will lead
to other symptoms, like dry skin, and reduced resistance to infection. One of
these is hyperkeratosis, which is the development of clumps around the skin
hair follicles (kinda nasty). In much more severe cases, this can lead to
blindness, and strong headaches.
How does vitamin A affect people as a
whole(statistically)?
"Vitamin A
deficiency is a public health problem in more than half of all countries,
especially in Africa and South-East Asia, hitting hardest young children and
pregnant women in low-income countries (World Health Organization)."
Vitamin A Deficiency is the leading cause of blindness in children, which
eventually leads to death after bad infections.
Other VAD Facts:
*An estimated 250
million preschool children are vitamin A deficient and it is likely that in
vitamin A deficient areas a substantial proportion of pregnant women is vitamin
A deficient.
*An estimated 250
000 to 500 000 vitamin A-deficient children become blind every year, half of
them dying within 12 months of losing their sight.
*For children,
lack of vitamin A causes severe visual impairment and blindness, and
significantly increases the risk of severe illness, and even death, from such
common childhood infections as diarrhoeal disease and measles.
These are just a
few facts to show how Vitamin A deficiency has affected the world.
Possible WHO solution:
*The basis for
lifelong health begins in childhood. Vitamin A is a crucial component. Since
breast milk is a natural source of vitamin A, promoting breastfeeding is the
best way to protect babies from VAD.
*Planting these “seeds”
between 6 months and 6 years of age can reduce overall child mortality by a
quarter in areas with significant VAD.
In conclusion, Vitamin A is very important in everybody's daily life, and Vitamin A deficiency is a problem in a lot of developing and low income countries. To solve this problem, we must come together as a whole to provide the necessary Vitamin A to other countries to avoid even more preventable blindness in people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXcMmclEO8c
This video explains how vitamin A overdosage can affect people, and explains how vitamin A affected a person with her overage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJIkhXIp7l8
this video talks about the top sources and how vitamin A reserves affect people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkWyQFUUR4Q
This is an overall explanation of Vitamin A as a whole.
SOURCES:
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-QuickFacts/#h3
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-vitamin-A.php
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-a/NS_patient-vitamina/DSECTION=dosing
http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/vad/en/
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