Cassidy Pont
A healthier America awaits...

Vitamins are Vital
What do you look at on the nutrition facts label? Most people would say the amount of calories or fat content, but what they should be focused on are the vitamins that the food contains. Because many people focus on their caloric and fat intake, they rarely pay attention to what vitamins they are consuming, which can greatly affect their body. One vitamin that is often overlooked is Vitamin A. Vitamin A is necessary in order to grow new cells, have healthy tissues, skin, and hair, and to improve one’s vision in dim lighting; it also helps the immune and reproduction systems work properly, as well as the heart, lungs, and kidneys (2012). However, if one does not receive enough vitamin A they are considered vitamin A deficient, which can have a whole slew of other problems that come along with being deficient in this vitamin.
One problem that vitamin A deficient people have deals with iron in their tissues. There is a deep connection between vitamin A and iron: without enough vitamin A, the body cannot release the iron it absorbs; therefore, that person will not be receptive to iron, which was concluded in a study conducted by the Nutrition Department and Cellular Biology Department at the University of Brazil. This study split rats up into groups each receiving a different diet; the control group received a diet enriched with Vitamin A, another group did not receive any vitamin A, and the last group consumed no vitamin A and low amounts of iron. After observing how the iron was digested in the spleen of these rats, researchers concluded that vitamin A has a big influence on how iron is distributed to the tissues in the body. Being vitamin A deficient hinders the ability for the spleen to recycle the iron that the body receives (Mehdad et al., 2010); therefore, if a vitamin A deficient person eats foods with iron, there body will not receive the iron properly due to not having enough vitamin A to mobilize the iron to the rest of the body.
Vitamin A doesn’t just affect the body, but can also have an impact on one’s brain; this is due to the amount of cortisol released by the body. In fact, a vitamin A deficient organism suffers the same way a person with a neurodegenerative disorder does. Researcher’s used MRI’s to study the brain of rats after they consumed a diet lacking vitamin A. The results were that the brain shrunk in size, due to too much cortisol being released, and because of dilation of the hippocampus and cerebral ventricular. The lack of vitamin A “induced anatomic and metabolic changes comparable to those observed in brains exhibiting neurodegenerative disorders” (Rahab et al., 2009, p. 701). Ultimately, what happens is the lack of vitamin A causes a lack of appetite, which leads to weight loss; this affects the person’s behavior and causes neural disturbances, which leads to neurodegenerative damage (Rahab et al., 2009).
Not only does vitamin A help prevent brain damage, but it helps minimize stress on the body. Without vitamin A, plaque builds up in the aorta and vacuoles form, which causes inflammation in the aorta, and puts stress on the body (Gatica et al., 2011, p. 104). Because there is a build up of cholesterol, the body has to work harder in order for the blood to flow past the blocking cholesterol in the artery; this wreaks havoc on one’s body causing stress. It was concluded that this causes stress after a three-month period of observing two groups of rats whom had a vitamin A rich diet, and the other on a diet with no Vitamin A. Experimenters found that this vitamin deficiency leads to fibrosis, where the body cannot repair itself, specifically in the main artery in the body–the aorta; because the body cannot repair the vacuoles that have formed, the body has to work harder to try to function properly. Vitamin A can help protect against this unnecessary stress on the body, and also protects against endothelial dysfunction .
Although some people suffer from this, vitamin A deficiency is most common in developing countries (2012). One reason is because they do not have access to foods containing it. Here in America, many consume vitamin A from fruits and vegetables, and also from fortified foods that are enhanced with such vitamins. Omar Dary and Jose Mora, who are affiliated with the U.S. Agency for International Development Micronutrient Program, argue that there needs to be more fortified foods in developing countries in order to help fight this vitamin A deficiency epidemic in such places. Dary and Mora say that food fortification is “a very attractive and economic way to prevent and control vitamin A deficiency” (Dary and Mora, 2002, p. 2927S). Food fortification is a cheap and effective way to minimize vitamin A deficiencies in developing countries, which would improve the overall health of the people around the world.
Now, don’t be worried that you are not receiving the proper amount of vitamin each day, (which the daily recommended amount for people aged 14 years and older 700-900 micrograms of RAE , depending on gender), because there are many different foods that contain vitamin A. The food that contains the highest amount of vitamin A is beef liver, which holds a whopping 6,582 mcg RAE per serving (2012). However, there are many other foods that hold high amounts of vitamin A including: spinach, carrots, cantaloupe, broccoli, squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, apricots, eggs (2013), paprika, cayenne, red pepper, chili powder, papaya, mangoes, peaches, fortified skim milk, whole milk, fortified cereals and oatmeal (2013, Top ten foods highest in vitamin A). These are just some of the foods that contain vitamin A. In conclusion, be conscious of which foods you are consuming and how much vitamin A those foods contain; strive to take in the recommended daily amount of all vitamins.
Works Cited
(2012). Dietary supplement fast sheet: Vitamin A. Retreived from: http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/
(2013). Top ten foods highest in vitamin A. Health-Alicious-Ness. Retrieved from: http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-vitamin-A.php.
(2013). Vitamin A-sources and functions. Retreived from: http://www.nutristrategy.com/nutrition/vitamina.htm
Dayr, O., and More, J.O. (2002). Food fortification to reduce vitamin A deficiency: International Vitamin A Consultative Group Recommendations. The Journal
of Nutrition, 122(1), 2927S-2933S. Retreived from: http://search.proquest.com/docview/197427098/fulltextPDF/13D0DB60A8010E749E/13?
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Gatica, L.V., Oliveros, L.B., Pérez Diaz, M.F., Dominguez, N.S., Fornes, M.W., and Gimenez, M.S. (2011). Implication of vitamin A deficiency on vascular injury
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Mehdad, A., Siqueira, A.M.A, and Arruda, S.F. (2010). Effects of Vitamin A Deficiency on Iron Bioavailability. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 57(1), 35-
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Rahab, N.G.R., Beauvieux, M.C., Biran, M., Pallet, V., Higueret, P., and Gallis, J.L. (2009). Vitamin A deficiency in rats induces anatomic and metabolic changes
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