Vitamin A is vital to good health: The chemical name for Vitamin A is Retinol. Retinol is only found in animal foods, but its relatives, the pro-vitamin carotenoids, are found in many other vegetables, fruits, pulses, nuts, and seeds. This is an essential vitamin for the health of the teeth, bones, hair, nails, skin, and eyes. It also helps to maintain the good health of the mucous membranes, and helps to prevent cancer developing. The daily requirement is between 2,500 to 5,000 International Units: 333 International Units equal one mg.
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin which is important for growth: It helps cells to regenerate themselves. Being fat soluble means that it can be stored in the body to a certain extent, and it also means that you should take care with supplements of this Vitamin, as it IS possible to take it in excess, which will result in poisoning. Excessive amounts of Vitamin A through supplementation can result in the liver and spleen becoming enlarged, with bone pain, hair loss, itchy skin, and headache. An excess of Vitamin A could occur with taking tablets and too much cod liver or halibut oil. However, you would not be likely to over-do Vitamin A if you are eating a balanced diet which includes some of the Vitamin A foods.
According to Russell Atkinson, studies done on a group of super healthy people at the University of Alabama showed this group to be taking a dietary allowance as high as 33,000 IU of Vitamin A a day, which is extremely high. Russell indicates that both zinc and lecithin are needed for Vitamin A to be utilized properly in the body without high amounts remaining in the liver: He speculates that these people who consumed such a high dietary allowance of Vitamin A would have also had ample supplies of zinc and lecithin in their diets, which allowed them to process the Vitamin A/beta carotene foods efficiently.
Vitamin A For Good Eye-Sight: Vitamin A is considered to be one of the most essential vitamins for maintaining the health of the eyes, and in keeping good eye-sight. A deficiency of Vitamin A can lead to night-blindness and corneal degeneration, called xerophthalmia. This condition of corneal degeneration developed in Denmark during the first world-war, when Denmark began to export most of its Vitamin A-rich butter off to France and Germany, and ate cheap margarine substitutes themselves. When the government recognized the cause of the deficiency and retained some of the butter for the Danes, the situation of wide-spread xerophthalmia repaired itself. Vitamin A was famously given to pilots during the second world war, through dietary measures, so that they could see better while piloting their planes at night, although this ‘technology’ was nothing new: Hippocrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, observed that ox-liver cured night blindness. His famous words were: “Let medicines be your food, and food your medicine.”
Vitamin A maintains healthy skin: This vitamin cures the dry and often scaly skin condition known as ‘goose-flesh’, which appears on the upper arms , as well as the thighs, of people who are deficient in Vitamin A.
Vitamin A is found in butter, cheese, and milk. It is also found in liver, eggs, oily fish, and fish roe. Green vegetables such as broccoli and spinach, and orange ones such as carrots and mango, are especially high in beta-carotene, which is utilized by the body to make Vitamin A. Carotene is an ‘anti-infective’ vitamin agent which helps the immune system to fight off diseases such as chicken pox, scarlet fever, and other infections.
The list of Vitamin A rich foods are listed in order as follows, with the richest sources leading the list:
Cod liver oil
Halibut liver oil
Ox liver, and Beef Broth
Lamb liver
Chicken liver
Liverwurst
‘Black’ pudding
Eel
Oysters
Mussels and other shell fish
Parsley
Carrots, Parsnips, Turnip, and Swede: One large carrot alone can provide the necessary daily allowance of beta-carotene Vitamin A for one adult.
Beetroot, cooked or grated raw.
Broccoli
Mango
Paw paw
Banana
Spinach
Butter
Cream
Dried apricots
Pumpkin
Nuts
Almonds
Sesame seeds
Sunflower seeds
Watercress
Goat’s Cheese, Ewe’s or Camel’s milk Cheeses, and all cow’s milk cheeses such as:
Cheddar Cheese
Cream Cheese
Stilton Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Tomato Puree
Kidney meats
Eggs
Sweet Potato, Kumara and Yams
Dried prunes
Dried dates
Cabbage
Brussels sprouts
Sardines Tuna and Mackerel
All green or dried beans, lentils and peas
Herrings
Full Fat Milk. Always choose full fat milk in order to get adequate amounts of Vitamin A. Low fat milks are not so good for growing children or pregnant women, because low fat milks are deficient in Vitamin A.
Note: Yoghurt, low fat milk, and low fat skim milks are NOT rich in Vitamin A. This is because the Vitamin A content has been skimmed off to make those Vitamin A rich foods such as butter, cream cheese, or to sell as cream. This is why milk which has not had the fat removed is actually BETTER for you nutritionally than drinking low fat milk. Full fat skim milk powder will contain some Vitamin A.
Things which are harmful to Vitamin A absorption: Chemotherapy reduces the amount of Vitamin A in the body. Many cholesterol-lowering drugs, laxatives, and contraceptives also affect the Vitamin A content in the body: Many of these drugs lead to decreased absorption of carotene and vitamin A. Working regularly with mineral oil and petroleum products, such as mechanics do, could affect your Vitamin A absorption.
Coeliac disease can cause a deficiency in Vitamin A. Gastrectomy can cause a deficiency of this, and many other vitamins and minerals. Stress can affect your Vitamin A absorption. Having excess mucous in the body through an allergy to something like milk can cause Vitamin A deficiency. Having infections such as the flu, chicken pox, mumps, measles and other comomon illnesses can cause a depletion in the body’s store of Vitamin A.
Vitamin A supplement to help recovery of illness: Because Vitamin A is anti-infective and restorative to the mucous membranes, it is often useful to give children who are sick with illnesses such as measles or whooping cough extra Vitamin A: The old fashioned formula for a Vitamin A supplement was cod liver oil. I used to give my children Halibut liver oil capsules when they had infectious illnesses such as measles, or any bronchial complaint. I would increase the dosage for a day or two only, by which time the illness was usually abating. I would then stop giving the halibut liver oil capsules as an anti-infection remedy. We would go back to using it about once or twice a week after this, just to supplement the diet.
Resource Books: ‘Your Health – Vitamins and Minerals’, by Russell Frank Atkinson, 1982, Doubleday Australia, NSW.
‘Collins Family Medical Handbook’, 1981, Collins, London and Glasgow.