Vitamin A has a profound effect on the eyes and visual system and  An article in Life Force Homeopathy even dubbed it the “angel vitamin” because it can keep you looking and feeling ageless.

Vitamin A helps the adrenals and thyroid hormones function properly, maintains nerve cell structure and immune function. Research suggests vitamin A helps with many skin ailments, including acne and psoriasis. It enhances new skin cells and repairs injuries. It works alongside calcium and vitamin d to form teeth and bones and it also helps to keep those organs and structures strong.

Vitamin A reduces inflammation which slows down the aging process and allows you to retain a youthful appearance. It supports the immune system through its strong antioxidant activity.

Despite its importance, vitamin A is prescribed much less often than the other vitamins. This contributes in part to diseases and disorders that stem from insufficient amounts of the nutrient.

Countries from around the world have identified vitamin A deficiency as one of their most serious public health concerns. It is most prevalent in Africa and Southeast Asia. The most common people who are deficient are children and pregnant women.

Some effects of vitamin A deficiency are:

• Poor growth and development.

• Suppressed immune function characterized, for example, by reduced ability to launch an effective antibody response and lowered levels of helper T-cells. This makes a person more prone to infectious diseases, including chicken pox, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), measles, pneumonia, sinusitis, AIDS, colds and other respiratory infections. Worse, during the course of an infectious disease, the body's stores of vitamin A are depleted, contributing to a vicious cycle which further increases one's infection rate.

• Vision issues like night blindness and dry eyes (cornea and conjunctiva). In severe cases, an eye disease known as xerophthalmia could result, a condition which afflicts millions of Asian children annually.

• Dry hair 

• Wrinkles, dry skin and skin disorders like acne.

• Compromised mucous membranes in the respiratory, gastrointestinal and   genitourinary tracts.

• Ear abscesses

• Insomnia

• Fatigue

• Reproductive issues

• Weight loss

 How Can you increase your Vitamin A intake?

A number of studies have raised warnings about vitamin A supplementation, which is why it’s so important to get this vitamin from natural sources. 

Vitamin A is the term for retinoids that can be dissolved in fat. They include beta carotene, retinal, retinol, and retinoids.

Small amounts of micronutrients that contain vitamin A are enough to ensure the normal function of the body.

Food sources

Dietary sources of vitamin A fall into two categories - foods which contain preformed vitamin A and foods which contain provitamin A; compounds that are converted to vitamin A in the body. The body's ability to properly absorb vitamin A is dependent on healthy mucosal cells plus the presence of bile, pancreatic enzymes, fat, protein and antioxidants. Conversion of provitamin A to vitamin A depends on the presence of protein, zinc, vitamin C and thyroid hormones.

In plants, Vitamin A is found as carotenoids: bell peppers, broccoli, spinach, kale and collards, sweet potatoes, yams, apricots, dandelion root and squash.

In animal foods, it is available as the aforementioned retinoids. Good sources of this pre-vitamin form include raw organic butter, organic egg yolks, fish, liver, and organic meat.

One of the many beneficial vitamins we get from raw butter is vitamin A, which has a wide range of functions for our bodies. Compared to standard butter, grass-fed butter can have 3% or more vitamin A per tablespoon. This might not sound like a lot, but over the course of a day and a lifetime, that added vitamin A can really add up.

Your body needs a daily dose of this fat-soluble vitamin to maintain healthy bones, cell membranes, immune function, skin, teeth and vision. Vitamins A and D work together, and there's evidence suggesting that without vitamin D, vitamin A can be ineffective. 

It’s important to have your vitamin A and vitamin D levels checked by a holistic MD.

SKINCARE:

Rosehip oil is naturally high in vitamin A, an ingredient in our holi oil and body oil.

***THESE STATEMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED OR REGULATED BY THE FDA.  WE ARE NOT DOCTORS, THEREFORE ALWAYS CONSULT WITH YOUR DOCTOR FIRST.