Vitamin A is from the retinoid group that helps with many functions of the body. This is found in many forms. The retinoid is broken down into alcohols in the small intestine before it is digested by the body.

Facts About Vitamin A – Why Is Vitamin A Needed?

Vitamin A is needed for healthy vision through retinal formation, healthy skin through retinoid formation, and gene transcription by retinoic acid. The recommended dose varies based on age ranging from six hundred ULs daily for infants to 3000 ULs in lactating women between nineteen and fifty.

Facts About Vitamin A – Where Is It Naturally Acquired?

Vitamin A is acquired naturally through liver, carrots, broccoli leaves, pumpkin, collard greens, papaya, sweet potatoes, eggs, kale, and many other foods. These foods vary in their content of vitamin A and are sometimes depleted of this source through cooking.

Facts About Vitamin A – Potential For Toxicity

Vitamin A is very rarely toxic because it must be taken in exceptionally high doses to become toxic. In a case of an overdose, vitamin A can cause vomiting, blurred vision, headaches, muscles and abdominal pain, weakness, drowsiness, and even an altered mental status.

Prolonged exposure to high doses of vitamin A can cause hair loss, fever, insomnia, weight change, brittle fractured bones, diarrhea, and the death of mucus membranes.