Vitamin A… during Corona

Eating all your leafy green veg, carrots, sweet potatoes...? Getting enough Vitamin A?

Not necessarily.

All these vegetables are beta carotenes, sources of pro vitamin A.
A problem could be however, that your intestines are not converting them to vitamin A? Perhaps due to genetic characteristics, or the enzyme responsible for the conversion is not working efficiently.

The food sources of vitamin A are liver, kidney, eggs and dairy produce but there could still be a deficiency if your diet is inadequate, for example if you are vegan, or due to zinc, vitamin C/E and protein deficiencies.

Deficiency signs are impaired growth, weight loss, eye problems (dry eyes, inflammation and might blindness), acne, and reduced resistance to infection.
Vitamin A is important for the immune system and so particularly relevant during these corona times. Deficient people have a higher risk of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. There’s a catch 22 here, because vitamin A levels also get depleted during the course of such an infection.

Eating too much beta carotene doesn’t necessarily increase Vit A levels, but when you do eat them make sure to have them combined with a bit of fat, protein, zinc and vits C and E.

Should we all be rushing to get vitamin A supplements then? Not necessarily, smokers or even ex smokers should be very careful as for them, vit A supplements increase lung cancer risk. Also supplementation is not recommended during pregnancy due to higher risk of birth defects. Most importantly, toxicity at high doses can be quite serious.

I must admit, I am an ex smoker but I gave in and took vit A supplements for a month, due to my uveitis. I felt great on it but fear got the better of me and I’ve now stopped taking it.

Never smoked, not pregnant and feel deficient? Give it a go and try @cytoplan_ Vitamin A retinol palmitate for one month only, one tablet daily.

By the way, most multi vitamins contain an amount of 1500-5000 IU and this will be sufficient for most.