Vitamin A is most commonly associated with eye health – remember hearing “eat your carrots for good eyesight” growing up? Well, your mom was right about good vision needing adequate Vitamin A. But how about other benefits? Vitamin A is needed for healthy bones, skin, hair and wound healing. I’ll get into that a little later, but first let’s understand the basics.
The generic term “vitamin A” includes related metabolic compounds in two major groups:
- Retinyl esters and retinol (which is converted to retinoic acid) are considered to be preformed vitamin A that come from animal sources and are stored mostly in the liver or
- Provitamin A carotenoids from fruits and vegetables and other plant products are turned into Vitamin A by your body in the intestines. The most common carotenoid is beta-carotene found in yellow, orange, and red fruits and vegetables.
Absorption of Vitamin A varies based on source:
- preformed vitamin A (retinol) in animal-derived foods is 75%-100% absorbed.
- Provitamin A (beta carotene) from plant foods is only 10%-30% absorbed. That is one reason vegetarians are often deficient in Vitamin A.
Vitamin A is fat soluble and known for its necessary role for growth, bone development, vison health and eyesight, hormone receptor function, cellular proliferation and differentiation.
Vitamin A also plays a major role in healthy immune function, and the integrity of cells that line the epithelial and mucosal surfaces. For these reasons, Vitamin A is an important defense against viral-bacterial infections, and inflammatory risks facing us today.
Research supporting the foundational role of vitamin A in immune system function dates back to the 1920s. Modern studies attribute the value of vitamin A to its involvement in maintaining mucosal barriers that line the airways, digestive tract, and urinary tract. The neutrophils, macrophages, and natural killer cells in these tissues provide the body’s first line of immune defense, which is crucial in protecting against viral and bacterial infections.
Vitamin A also plays a role in the generation of antibody response and Vitamin A metabolites are involved in regulating autoimmune response. These functions are important in fighting infections as well as preventing the body from attacking it’s own cells as we saw in the SarsCoV2 illness.
Interestingly, Vitamin A supplementation was found to improve serum level of cytokines and other studies showed that borderline or deficient retinol blood levels (retinol <0.20 mg/L) in people with COVID-19 were more likely to be symptomatic and were associated with worsened clinical outcomes.
In light of the current media focus on measles outbreaks, it is important to know that studies have found that vitamin A can dramatically reduce measles mortality and that vitamin A deficiency can worsen severity and increase complications.
Finally, under the new Trump Administration, the CDC has included Vitamin A use under the supervision of a physician in their updated recommendation supporting for those with mild, moderate, and severe Measles infections.
Other functions of Vitamin A include:
- Essential for good vision. The first sign of deficiency is often poor night vision.
- Bone health – a deficiency in vitamin A is linked to an increased risk of fracture.
- Wound healing – vitamin A play an essential role in all stages of the wound healing process, from stimulating the growth of epithelial cells, fibroblasts, and granulation tissue. It also increases the production of collagen and fibronectin, which components of the extracellular matrix.
- Inflammation – vitamin A helps control the inflammatory response and can also reverse the inhibitory effects of anti-inflammatory steroids on wound healing.
- Reproduction – vitamin A deficiency can block the development of sperm cells, leading to infertility in males and can reduce egg quality and affect egg implantation in females.
- Development of an embryo and fetus.
- Healthy skin and mucous membranes that line the nose, sinuses, and mouth and upper airway.
- Promotes hair growth.
- Promotes healthy skin. Helps clear up skin disorders, warts, premature aging from sun damage, acne and psoriasis
- Reduce severity and complications of measles and from developing infections
- Lower risk of breast, colon, esophageal, cervical cancers and melanoma in people who eat a healthy diet with beta-carotene and other carotenoids from fruits and vegetables.
Vitamin A deficiency can be measured by plasma retinol level, a simple blood test you can actually order for yourself, cash-pay, via several on line companies for patients to access to check lab tests.
Vitamin A deficiency is defined as a level of 20 mcg/dL or less. If your level is below 10 mcg/dL, it indicates severe vitamin A deficiency. Although rare in the developed world, serious deficiency of vitamin A symptoms include:
- Dry eyes
- Night blindness or difficulty driving at night
- Diarrhea
- Skin problems
- Higher risk of respiratory disease (pneumonia), infections (measles, diarrhea), and can cause anemia
People at risk of vitamin A deficiency include
- Premature infants
- People from developing countries
- People after gastric by-pass surgery, or those with irritable bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn disease, and celiac disease because they may have a hard time absorbing all the nutrients their bodies need.
Caution: Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, and can build up in fat tissue over time, leading to excessively high levels and toxicity. Symptoms of Vitamin A toxicity can include nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, blurred vision, coordination issues, bone pain, and dryness of lips, eyes, and skin.
Vitamin A toxicity can be either acute, when someone takes a markedly excessive dose in a short time, or chronic, when taking more than needed to maintain optimal levels and the level builds up to a toxic range over time. It is important to check Vitamin A blood levels periodically and to avoid taking high doses.
Cod Liver oil contains high doses of Vitamin A, and also contains vitamin D, also a fat-soluble vitamin that can build up over time). If you are taking Cod Liver oil every day, be sure to check your Vitamin A blood level to be sure you are not getting too much, especially if you have symptoms such as I mentioned above.
Some medications can affect vitamin A absorption. For example, absorption of Vitamin A is reduced by the weight loss medication Orlistat, while medications to treat psoriasis (such as Soriatane and Targretin made from vitamin A) can lead to Vitamin A toxicity when you add vitamin A supplements with these medicines.
Food sources of beta-carotene do not have the problem of toxicity from eating too many fruits and vegetables.
Bottom line: First focus on getting Vitamin A from a variety of foods: animal sources include beef liver, eggs, dairy and fish; plant sources include carrot juice which contains 40,000 IU for one cup and the dark yellow vegetables. Then if you are still deficient in Vitamin A, take a supplement as appropriate and under the care of your physician.
We encourage you to consider our high quality certified GMP supplement, TruVitamin A™, available at the Truth for Health Store. Our Vitamin A reduces the risk of taking an excessive amount because it contains the safer upper limit of 3000 mcg of retinyl palmitate, the preferred supplemental source of vitamin A with an absorption rate of 70%-90%.
You will also get some vitamin A from our TruMultiV™ and TruMultiV™ with Iron both 1,120 mcg of vitamin A, 75% as natural beta-carotene and 25% as retinyl palmitate. And remember, since vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin it should be taken with foods containing some fat.
Click here to purchase TruVitamin A
I hope you will give the natural medicines and healthy lifestyle changes a chance to help you achieve your health goals before you turn to the riskier prescription medicines for the “quick fix” that may be costlier to your health and your pocketbook!
To Your good health,
Dr. Vliet
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