The Function Of Vitamin A: What Is Vitamin A?

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Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that is greatly needed by the retina of the human eyes. It’s very vital for the enhancement of color and low-light vision. It’s also a generic term for related compounds such as retinal and retinol. The vitamin also has alternative names such as Retinol, Retinoic acid, Cartenoids and Retinal. Functions of Vitamin A • Vitamin A helps a lot in the maintenance of a healthy skin, mucus membrane, teeth and other soft tissues of the body. • It helps a lot in enhancing vision since it produces enough pigments for the retina. Usually when light passes through the lens of the eyes, it’s picked up by the retina and then converted to a nerve impulse by the brain. Vitamin A or Retinol is usually transported to the retina …show more content…

It can also be gotten from animal sources such as kidney, cod, and halibut fish oil and so on. Vitamin A Deficiency When you lack Vitamin A, you’re sure to suffer a lot of deficiencies in your body systems. Discussed below are some of the deficiencies that will show when the vitamin is lacking. • Vitamin A Deficiency and Vision Vision impairment is inevitable when Vitamin A is lacking in your system. In most cases, the issue of vision impairment abounds in the lives of children and even adults who don’t take foods rich in Vitamin A. When such is the case, the individuals involved will encounter series of vision problems such as night blindness, dry eye and so on. In most cases, mild deficiency of Vitamin causes bitots’ spots or changes in the conjunctiva. When the deficiency is very severe, dry eye will showcase. • Infectious Diseases and Vitamin A …show more content…

• Males from 14 years and older are to take 900 mcg per day • Females from 14 years and older are to take 700 mcg per day. How to know when you have too much or too little of Vitamin A? It’s always important you get to know about the right dosage for Vitamin A in your body system. However, it might be very difficult to actually know exactly when you’re having too much of it or too little of it. You don’t really need to worry too much. All you need is to watch out the reactions from your body system. If you begin to notice traces of night blindness or eye irritation, you ought to know that Vitamin A is lacking. When you begin to fall sick often, you’ll notice that your immune system is weak. This may also be a sign of Vitamin A deficiency. However, when you begin to notice nausea, blurred vision or irritability, this may be a sign of overconsumption of Vitamin A. Again, when you take too much of Vitamin A, the palms of your hand and the bottoms of your feet may turn orange in color. Your skin may also turn yellow. On the other hand, excess lack of Vitamin A may lead to hair loss, enlarged spleen, liver damage, increase risk of bone fractures and growth retardation. Taking

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