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VITAMINS & MINERALS?
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VITAMIN A: RETINOL & BETA-CAROTENE
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, which is essential for proper vision and helps the body fight infection, it's also though to help reduce the risk of cancer due to its anti-oxidant function.
It is vitally important for cell differentiation the process by which the body decides what shape and function a proto-cell will specialize in. For example one proto-cell may be used to replace a damaged skin cell while another proto-cell is assigned to replace a cornea cell in the eye. As a result, vitamin A is essential for the body to repair, replace cells in the body.
Vitamin A is also essential in the bodies production of mucus, the bodies lubricant. If a deficiency occurs, mucus production may slow down or even stop. Mucus doesn't kill bacteria, but protects cells from allowing them to enter the cells and excreted by the body. If mucus production slows down, cracks, lesions and dryness occur, making the bodies cells vulnerable to infection. This leads to external conditions such as dry eyes, poor nighttime vision and skin dryness. Luckily the liver can store vitamin A.
It is found in the highest concentrations within fish oils, liver and egg yolks. Beta-Carotene (the vitamin A precursor) can be found in high quantities in orangy colored vegetables such as pumpkins, oranges and especially carrots. Vitamin A can be converted from beta-carotene or other carotenoids, hence they are sometimes called “pro-vitamin A. If vitamin A retinal then taking about 20 000 mcg daily for more then a month can become toxic, if taken as beta-carotene (thus converted to vitamin A) will not become toxic but may cause orangy skin due to too excess beta-carotene stored in fats below the skin surface.
Zinc is required to make vitamin A active.
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References
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Book Description & Testimonial |
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The Vitamin Alphabet: Your Guide to Vitamins, Minerals and Food Supplements
by Christina Scott-Moncrieff
All in color! Make sure that you are getting all the vitamins and nutrients you need! Written by a physician who uses both conventional and homeopathic medicines, this must-have guide is a handbook for good health. More than 50 nutritional supplements are presented with explanations of what they do, what they can be combined with for enhanced effect, in which foods they can be found, and the recommended daily allowances. Recipes for quick nutritional boosts, case studies, and deficiency checklists are included. In addition to providing information on such common supplements as Vitamins C, A, D, E, and the B-complexes and important minerals like calcium, potassium, iron, and zinc, this authoritative reference also features information on common herbal supplements, including garlic, echinacea, ginseng, and ginkgo biloba. A cross-referenced lifestyles section highlights the special supplement needs for pregnancy, child development, athletics, immune system boosting, and mor
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The Columbia Encyclopedia of Nutrition
by Brian L. G. Morgan, Jaime Rozovski, Myron Winick (Editor), Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition (Corporate Author)
Useful sourcebook from the Institute of Human Nutrition of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons provides an authoritative compendium of information relating to a wide variety of topics. Short articles, alphabetically arranged, proffer concise and up-to-date discussions of such subjects as food additives, vegetarianism, vitamin deficiencies, food processing, sources of iron, macrobiotic diets and nutrient requirements during pregnancy. Not all the articles are about nutrition, however, and there are lucid writings on related topics like stress and exercise. Welcome dietary recommendations are given without pep talks or filler, and the evenhanded work doesn't take a dogmatic approach to controversial issues. In its entry on vitamin C, for example, the book states that "there are no definitive answers about consuming large doses," citing one study demonstrating that the vitamin supplement reduces the severity of the common cold and another study that was unable to prove any differences between those taking and those abstaining from the supplement.
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Nutritional Resources @ myfoodcount.com
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