Vitamin A

Vitamin A ... this is one of the most important vitamin and this can also be called as Beauty Vitamin as it gives you good skin, eyesight, bones, sparkling teeth and of course good hair.

The deficiency of this vitamin can give you night blindness, dry eyes and skin, and a reduction in the secretion of the mucous membranes. Hair loss can also occur.

Vitamin A is made up of three molecules, retinal, retinal and retinoic acid. Each of these is obtained from the plant precursor molecule, b- carotene. It is a fat-soluble vitamin and also called as Retinol.

You need not take supplements for this. You can have this easily from the fruits and vegetables, milk products like cheese, butter etc, liver, fish, meat and egg yolk. Fish oils are rich in retinals but they are mostly used as supplements rather than natural foods.

The cheapest source of vitamin A is green leafy vegetables such as spinach and amaranth, which are found in great abundance in nature throughout the year. The darker the green leaves the higher the carotene content.

Vitamin A also occurs in most green and yellow fruits and vegetables (e.g. papaya, mango, pumpkin) and in some roots (e.g. carrots). The most important carotenoid is beta-carotene, which has the highest vitamin A. carotenes, are converted to vitamin A in small intestine. Vegetable sources of beta-carotene are free of fat and cholesterol.

An overdose of vitamin A can restrict growth and stop menstruation. Too much vitamin A can also lead to skin rashes, jaundice, nausea, headaches, and damaged red blood corpuscles. An overdose of everything leads one to problems. So be careful of the supplements and try to get the needed allowance from the daily intake of food.