All About Vitamin A
This month, in celebration of Men’s Health Month, we’re switching gears and putting males into the spotlight to dive deeper into everything to do with men’s health. In addition to releasing a men’s health Nutrition Score to all free users for the month, we’ll be uncovering some key nutrition considerations for males to keep in mind.
For this blog in particular, we’ll be talking all about vitamin A, which many men aren’t getting enough of in their diets.
Its Function
Vitamin A (retinol) is needed to see at night and it helps your immune defence by creating immune cells and maintaining a physical barrier to pathogens by replenishing your skin and intestinal cells. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble nutrient that is an antioxidant, meaning it protects your cells from damage from oxygen free radicals that are made when your cells metabolize oxygen.
Vitamin A plays a role in determining what type of tissue each of your cells become, so it is especially important during embryonic development. Vitamin A also stimulates the production and activity of white blood cells, takes part in remodeling bone, helps maintain healthy endothelial cells (those lining the body’s interior surfaces), and regulates cell growth and division such as needed for reproduction.
Vitamin A & Your Diet
It is recommended that men get more vitamin A per day compared to females (900 micrograms vs. 700).
Vitamin A is found in different forms from plant and animal sources. Vitamin A from animal sources is ready to use by your body. Vitamin A from plant sources are metabolized into active vitamin A only when your body needs it; therefore, plant sources of vitamin A do not pose a toxicity risk.
Good sources of vitamin A include liver, milk, eggs, dark leafy vegetables like kale, spinach and broccoli as well as yellow and orange vegetables, like carrot and pumpkin.
Tracking Vitamin A In Cronometer
To make sure you’re getting enough vitamin A in your diet, if you’re not already, start tracking your food in Cronometer!
In the mobile app, navigate to your Daily Report and you should see your vitamin A intake under the vitamins section. You can also click on this to edit your targets, see your top sources and to learn more information about the vitamin in general.
On the web app, you can scroll down on your Diary Screen (main page) to see vitamin A listed under the vitamins section. You can hover over to learn more information or click to edit your targets and view your top sources.
Resources
1. The Nutrition Source, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Link
