Vitamin A: What It Can Do For You

Vitamin A kicks off the alphabet of vitaminery with a bang. If you’re a carrot (203% of vitamin A per serving) fan, you know that vitamin A is the good-vision vitamin. That’s because it helps protect the cornea and has been linked to preventing, impairing or reducing several eye-related health concerns: dry eye, superior limbic keratoconjunctivitis, macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and Stargardt’s disease, cataracts and recovery after laser eye surgery. Furthermore, vitamin A helps you see better in low lightand a deficiency of vitamin A can impair your peripheral vision. It also helps the development of the eyes in fetuses.

Vitamin A for the Immune System

Vitamin A helps boost your immune system by bolstering your entry points, specifically your respiratory tract and mucous membranes.

From Harvard School of Public Health

Vitamin A. Experts have long known that vitamin A plays a role in infection and maintaining mucosal surfaces by influencing certain subcategories of T cells and B cells and cytokines. Vitamin A deficiency is associated with impaired immunity and increased risk of infectious disease. On the other hand, according to one study, supplementation in the absence of a deficiency didn’t enhance or suppress T cell immunity in a group of healthy seniors.

Vitamin A for Healthy Skin

Vitamin A has been linked to healthy skin. It’s currently under investigation for its ability to reduce wrinkles caused by the aging process. It’s also been used to treat acne, repair sun and other damage, maintain healthy skin and relieve psoriasis a bit.

Vitamin A for Teeth and Gums

Vitamin A has bone-boosting properties which can strengthen the old chompers and because of its relationship with the mucous membranes, vitamin A is good for the gums, too. So the next time you see your dentist and you’ve got a healthy smile, it could be because you’re getting enough vitamin A in your diet.

Vitamin A For Breast Cancer and Stabilization

Vitamin A has been linked to lower rates of breast cancer and has been found to be helpful reducing complications in the following illnesses: malaria, HIV and measles

Vitamin A for Reproduction

Vitamin A is vital for the continuation of the species as it helps the male and female reproductive systems as well as embryonic development, especially the development of a healthy nervous system.

Vitamin A From Vegetable Sources is Safer Than Supplements or Meats

Vitamin A from plant food is completely safe. Fun fact, if you eat a polar bear liver, you will die. It’s because there is so much vitamin A in the liver of a polar bear that it will literally kill you. So if you’re eating polar bear on the tundra one day, skip the liver if you want to continue your harsh, tundrabound existence. Plants contain beta carotene. The body converts what it needs from that and throws the rest out. That’s why people aren’t dying from carrot overdoses.