How Bad Is Vitamin A Deficiency?
Vitamin A deficiency can be a killer. The human body needs vitamins in order to live. Without them there are any number of different illnesses and disease that we are susceptible to. That is why it is so important to get a lot of outdoor exercise, why it is so important to eat a well balanced diet and why we should all be taking vitamin supplements with vitamin A in them.
Vitamin A deficiency can affect people of any age but it is most common in the elderly. As people age and they lack vitamin A they can be more likely to get several different kinds of cancers. In children growth problems can occur. In fact it is common for children suffering from vitamin A deficiency to have severely retarded growth. The lack of this vitamin can also affect how well a person can see. The seeing factor is especially apparent at night when the eyes will be less inclined to adapt well to the change in light. In some cases vitamin A deficiency has lead to total night blindness. If you go for too long without getting enough vitamin A it could even be fatal.
You can get plenty of vitamin A from your diet if you know what you should be eating. In fact this is one of the vitamins that you will probably not need to take a supplement for. If you were to take too much vitamin A you could have an overdose and this can be very dangerous.
Here are some of the foods that have vitamin A in them:
Sweet Potato
Carrot
Kale, boiled
Mango
Turnip Greens
Spinach, raw
Papaya
Red Bell Pepper
Apricot
Cantaloupe
Milk, Fat Free
Romaine lettuce
Egg, large
Milk, whole
Tomato, raw
Broccoli
Green Bell Pepper
Orange
When using your diet to supplement the right amount of vitamin A you need to realize that much of the vitamin itself can be lost during the cooking process. That is why you should try to eat as many raw fruits and vegetables as you can. It can also be very helpful to keep your fruits and vegetables stored in the fridge and in containers. This can go a long way towards keeping them fresh and healthy for you. And whatever you do don't fry your foods. This is bad for you on so may levels and one of them is that this cooking process will lose more vitamin A than other forms such as baking or even steaming.
Vitamin A is something that you should definitely be making sure you are getting enough of and if you have children you need to do all that you can to make sure that they are getting the right amounts for their ages. You want your children to grow up strong and healthy and that means that they need to get the right kinds of vitamins and minerals as they are growing. This will keep their brain and their bodies developing according to schedule.