The Vitamin Centre |+| Vitamin A Retinol

Vitamin A, retinol and beta carotene….what do you know about their importance to your health?

Night blindness and carrots - These are the two things that most people immediately relate to when you mention vitamin a. 

This blindness is also one of the first signs of a vitamin A deficiency. The ancient Egyptians found by eating liver the blindness could be cured as liver is a very rich source of vitamin a.

Vitamin A deficiency interferes with the production of rhodopsin in the eye and this in turn results in the night blindness and xerophthalmia – excessive drying of the cornea. Vitamin A deficiency also diminishes the ability to fight infections and is common in developing countries.

It is estimated that between 250,000 to 500,000 malnourished children in these developing nations go blind each year from a vitamin A deficiency which is directly related to their poor diet.

The carrot story – yes, they are a great source of vitamin A but eating them by the bag full won’t improve your vision. It was one of the great pieces of propaganda spread by the British during World War II. They spread the story that their pilots were on a carrot diet so they could see the German bombers coming at night. In fact this was just a diversion to cover up what was really happening – which was AI or more correctly Airborne Interceptor Radar. It was the Brits new secret system that was able to locate the enemy before they crossed the English Channel. Wanting to keep their new technology a secret this plausible story was created – in fact it was so successful that many of the British public started devouring them to help find their way around during blackouts.

Beta carotene – this is the molecule that gives carrots their wonderful orange colour. It is part of the chemical family called carotenoids. Beta-carotene is completely safe as the body converts it to vitamin A only as needed.

Retinol is one of the most active, or usable, forms of vitamin A. Retinol is found in animal foods such as liver, whole eggs and milk. Retinol is also called preformed vitamin A. Find out more here....

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