Vitamin A is A OK

Here we go on our journey starting from the top with Vitamin A. It was first identified in 1913 by two American scientists and they called this substance "fat soluble A." So we now know that Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin. This means that fat from our food is necessary for this vitamin to be absorbed in the body.

So just what have you done for me lately Mr. Vitamin A? We need Vitamin A for many reasons. It is essential for healthy eyes and vision, the growth and repair of our cells and protection against infection. These are just a few of things it will do.

What types of Vitamin A are there? There are two types of Vitamin A. The first being Pre-formed Vitamin A which is often in the form of retinol or retinal. The second form of Vitamin A is Provitamin A which is the name given to some 50 compounds in a group of plant pigments known as carotenes or carotenoids. You might have heard of beta carotene most often.

What types of food have this Vitamin A in them? Well now we are getting to the good stuff! Food! Preformed Vitamin A is found in foods of animal origin such as liver (yum!), eggs and butter. Provitamin A is found in yellow, orange and dark green fruits and veggies such as sweet tators, carrots and broccoli.

Just how much Vitamin A do I need to be super turbo healthy? The recommended daily intake for Preformed Vitamin A is around 3ooo IU. Although Provitamin A doesn't have a recommended daily allowance some experts agree that 10 to 30 mg is a great start.

Where might I locate this wonderful Vitamin A in supplement form? I currently use Advocare's CorePlex caplets and it provides 5000 IU of Vitamin A as beta-carotene. You may check out CorePlex here.

Well there you go! One down and like 10 million vitamins and minerals to go. I hope you learned something.

Show up and make it count!