Vit A min A — Vitamers for Vision

INTRODUCTION

To begin, lets start with one of the phytonutrients — carotenoids. They are the plant pigments responsible for imparting characteristic colour to the various parts of the plants, for e.g,: colour of the leaves, colour of the fruits, etc. So, here carotene is one of the variants of carotenoids. Again carotene exits in alpha, beta and other forms where we will be focusing on beta carotene, which is the provitamin of Vitamin A or simply the precursor of Vitamin A. Basically, Vitamin A is fat soluble vitamin which collectively represents many structurally similar compounds like retinol, retinal, retinoid acid etc,. Let me brief you the above discussion in a simple graphical representation

Phytonutrients — Carotenoids — Carotene — Beta carotene → Vitamin A

SOURCES

As such Vitamin A is found only in animal sources but the the precursor of Vitamin A can be found in plant sources

Plant Sources: fruits and vegetables — sweet potato, spinach, carrots, broccoli

Animal Sources: whole milk, eggs, salmon, tuna , meat, cod liver oil etc

METABOLISM

In the intestine, Beta Carotene is cleaved to form retinal in the presence of an enzyme beta carotene 15,15 dioxygensae. Later retinal is further reduced to retinol. Retinol is reesterified to long chain fatty acids and incorporated to chylomicrons (lipoproteins) which are taken up and stored in the liver. This means your dietician can suggest you to include vitamin A rich foods if you are suffering from a liver disorder to avoid Vitamin A deficiency.

DEFICIENCY

1. Can causes night blindness — deficiency in Vitamin A can cause impairment in Wald’s Visual Cycle
2. Can cause scaly and dry skin.

HEALTH BENEFITS

1. Helps in bone growth, cell growth and differentiation
2. Helps maintain healthy epithelial tissue
3. Studies show that Vitamin A helps in the synthesis of transferrin, which is an iron binding protein
4. Carotenoids function as antioxidants and reduces the risk of cancer and cell damage caused by free radicals
5. Helps maintaining proper immune system to fight against various infections
6. Improves vision mainly in the low light

HEALTHY RECIPES FOR VITAMIN A

Consuming cup of whole milk and 1or 2 eggs everyday is great way to supply vitamin A. Listed below are some of the other interesting ways you would love to try.

SALADS

If you are planning to replace your lunch with salads, do include protein of your choice for the balance of nutrients. For normal health condition adding cereal like brown rice is of no harm. Salads with broccoli and carrots can be an awesome combo. For best choice try tuna salad with veggies.

SMOOTHIES

You can prepare your smoothie as an evening snack or a morning detoxifier. Spinach smoothie with other greens and herbs is a great choice to include green leafy vegetables, which are an amazing source of Vitamin A. Adding lemon juice and ginger to your smoothie will be of extra advantage.

SALSA & TORTILLAS

We all enjoy Nachos with salsa. Try out the sweet potato salsa. You can also prepare sweet potato tortilla and spinach frittata which are loved by kids too.

STEW

Stew tastes great with steamed rice. You can go for lamb stew and more specifically you can try lamb liver with mushrooms and onions

Apart from the list mentioned above you can also make your meals super yummy and Vitamin A loaded with Teriyaki Salmon or Steamed Salmon.