Benefits of Vitamin A
- More Than Just Vision

Benefits of Vitamin A - See What you've Been Missing

The benefits of Vitamin A extend far beyond just aiding your vision. When most folks think about Vitamin A they most naturally think of eyesight. And that is true. Vitamin A is essential for healthy vision as we shall see. But there are other major benefits of Vitamin A as well.

Vitamin A is another of those fat soluble vitamins. Fat soluble means that Vitamin A (along with Vitamin D and E) is stored by your body.

Vitamin A comes in two forms. The first, known as preformed Vitamin A or retinol can only be found in animal products such as liver, milk and dairy products and eggs (the yolks to be more specific).

The second form of Vitamin A is called provitamin A or carotene. Carotene is converted into preformed Vitamin A in your liver and your intestinal wall.

Carotene comes in three forms: alpha, beta and gamma, with beta-carotene being the most efficiently converted to preformed Vitamin A (retinol) by your body.

Beta-Carotene is found in vegetables such as sweet potatoes, leafy vegetables and carrots (remember your mama telling you to "eat your carrots - they'll help you see). As a matter of fact, beta carotene comes from the Latin word for carrot!

The benefits of Vitamin A can be gained by getting it in the form of beta-carotene as we will suggest under another heading below.

Throughout the rest of this discussion, please be aware that we will be dicussing the form of Vitamin A that is converted from beta-carotene by your body. Your body converts beta-carotene to Vitamin A only as it is needed, therefore there is no danger in getting too much Vitamin A in this manner.

Benefits of Vitamin A and Your Eyesight

Even though there are more benefits of Vitamin A than just keeping your eyesight healthy, we'll start here. After all most folks associate Vitamin A with their eyesight.

Over 4000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians used the liver of geese to cure night blindness. We now know that goose liver is high in Vitamin A because of the large amount of grass they eat. We are pretty sure the early Egyptians did not know about the benefits of Vitamin A though. They just knew that liver worked!

Why is that? Well remember the other word for Vitamin A - retinol. Retinol is transported to the retina of your eye. Through a series of complex chemical reactions that we would need at least two PhDs to understand, retinol is converted to a chemical that aids in the absorption of light photons.

When light photons are absorbed by the retina they are converted to electrical impulses which the brain can then read as an image. Since there are fewer light photons when it is dark out, the more photons that can be absorbed, the better we can see in the dark. And retinol helps the retina in our eyes to do that.

The benefits of Vitamin A extend past allowing us to see better in the dark. Did you know that Vitamin A deficiency is the number one cause of childhood blindness? It is also among the leading causes of preventable blindness worldwide.

An article in the ARCHIVES OF OPTHALMOLOGY titled "Vitamin A deficiency: Health, Survival and Vision", states " Vitamin A deficiency and its effects on human health, the eyes in particular, is an area of medicine in which most health care personnel in the United States and other industrialized nations have little to no experience".

The article continues "Yet vitamin A deficiency has been and continues to be a significant factor in the morbidity and mortality of millions of persons. Xerophthalmia , which results from vitamin A deficiency, is among the leading causes of preventable blindness worldwide and remains the most common cause of preventable childhood blindness".

Xerophthalmia is an abnormal dryness of the conjunctiva and cornea of the eyes. The conjunctiva is the mucous membrane that lines the inside of the eyelid. It also lines the white part of the eye. The cornea is the transparent outer covering of the iris and the pupil.

When these linings dry out, this can lead to scarring of the outer lining of the eye and can eventually result in blindness.

Another article in the ARCHIVES OF OPTHALMOLOGY titled "Doctor, What Vitamins Should I Take For My Eyes", states "Results of the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) suggest that nutritional supplements may be one of the most promising means discovered, to date, of delaying end-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD) ..." . Age-related macular degeneration is the main cause of vision loss in Americans who are over 50 years of age.

And still another study in the same Journal suggests that folks at risk for AMD consider taking the supplements Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Zinc and Beta Carotene .

Benefits of Vitamin A and Your Immune System

An article in the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE titled "The Effect of Vitamin A on Epithelial Integrity" says "Alterations in the epithelial lining of vital organs occur early in (Vitamin A) deficiency, suggesting a potentially important role for the barrier function".

What this means in "you and I" terms is this: Vitamin A is called the anti-infective. It is responsible for the health of the epithelial tissue of our bodies. Epithelial tissue forms the lining of our skin, our organs, lungs, blood vessels heart, mouth, urinary tract, nasal passages, eyes and every other system in our bodies.

Epithelial tissue forms a barrier between us and harmful viruses and bacteria that attempt to invade our bodies. When this barrier breaks down, the door opens for viruses and bacteria to get in. The benefits of Vitamin A help to maintain the integrity of your barrier.

Benefits of Vitamin A and Infectious Diseases

In the developing nations, Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of blindness among children. Vitamin A deficiency is also a major cause of serious infections and even death especially from diarrhea and measles. In parts of the Western Pacific, Latin America, Asia and Africa, Vitamin A deficiency is a major public health problem. Children who are Vitamin A deficient are at greater risk of infections.

In those parts of the world experiencing extensive Vitamin A deficiency, the World Health Organization suggests Vitamin A supplements for children with infections. There appears to be a correlation between a Vitamin A deficiency and an elevated risk of getting infections. And infections appear to use up your body's reserve of Vitamin A.

An article in the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE titled "Nutrients and Their Role in Host Resistance to Infection", states "Iron and vitamin A deficiencies and protein-energy malnutrition are highly prevalent worldwide and are important to the public health in terms of immunocompetence" . The same article goes on to further state "An inadequate status of some of these nutrients occurs in many populations in the world (i.e., vitamin A, iron, and zinc) where infectious disease is a major health concern."

The word immunocompetence is defined by Wikipedia as "Having the normal bodily capacity to develop an immune response following exposure to an antigen". And we all know that an antigen is any foreign substance that gets into the body like bacteria, viruses and toxins, right?

What are the benefits of Vitamin A that provide this mechanism? It is known that Vitamin A aids in the function of white blood cells and also gives a boost to our antigen fighting antibodies.

Can I Get My Benefits of Vitamin A Without Taking Too Much?

Preformed Vitamin A (retinol) is available in supplements as natural fish liver oil or synthetic acetate or palmitate. Although there are many benefits of Vitamin A, preformed Vitamin A can be the most toxic if taken in large amounts for an extended period of time.

It is generally accepted that toxicity can occur at levels beyond 25,000 - 33,000 IU daily which is in the ballpark of 10 times the daily Recommended Dietary Allowance. Symptoms include dry skin, loss of appetite, dizziness, fatigue, headache and nausea.

The Department of Health suggests that women who are pregnant or even planning to become pregnant, limit their consumption of the preformed Vitamin A or retinol, to around 2,500 IU from all sources including food and supplements.

Kenneth J. Rothman, DrPH, of the Boston University School of Medicine found that women taking more than 10,000 IU of vitamin A daily, either in food or supplements, were three times more likely to deliver infants with deformities of the head, heart, and brain. Remember that a 3 ounce serving of liver has around 10,000 IU of preformed Vitamin A.

If you are pregnant or are considering having a baby, read more on pregnancy and Vitamin A at the Baby Center.

Make sure that you see the info on beta-carotene below.

Benefits of Vitamin A and Beta-Carotene

Remember reading about beta-carotene a little earlier on this page? Beta-carotene is called provitamin A and is converted to Vitamin A (retinol) in your liver and your intestinal wall. Your body only converts what it needs to Vitamin A.

Since your body only converts what it needs, it has been shown that there are no toxicity concerns with beta carotene even at elevated levels. The level of beta-carotene necessary to equal the RDA of 3000 IU of Vitamin A has been found to be in the 10,000 to 15,000 IU range.

Another of the benefits of Vitamin A from beta-carotene is that beta-carotene has been shown to have antioxidant properties. If you would like to learn more about what an antioxidant does, you can learn more at our Vitamin C page.

What Do We Recommend?

Most research seems to point to the benefits of getting a healthy dose of Vitamin A as beta carotenene from your multivitamin. This insures that benefits of Vitamin A and the other nutrients you are getting are working together synergistically.

None other than Harvard School of Public Health weighed in by stating that the, "... intake of several vitamins above the minimum daily requirement may prevent heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and other chronic diseases."

Also, an article apperaing in the Journal of the American Medical Association had this to say... "suboptimal intake of some vitamins, above levels causing classic vitamin deficiency, is a risk factor for chronic diseases and common in the general population..."

In addition, the JAMA went on to say, "Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone. Pending strong evidence of effectiveness from randomized trials, it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements."

We've seen lots of products out there and we recommend not wasting your time or money on the mass produced, mass marketed thrift store variety multivitamins.

Most of these skimp on the amount of nutrients in their formulations and some are are just downright low quality.