Vitamin A

Vitamin A is essential for preserving your eyesight. It is needed to convert light that hits your eye into an electrical signal that can be sent to your brain. In fact, one of the first symptoms of vitamin A deficiency can be night blindness, known as nyctalopia.
In addition, eating adequate amounts of beta-carotene may help slow the decline in eyesight that some people experience as they age. An Age-Related Eye Disease Study found that giving people over the age of 50 with some eyesight degeneration an antioxidant supplement (including beta-carotene) reduced their risk of developing advanced macular degeneration by 25%.
However, a recent Cochrane review found that beta-carotene supplements alone won’t prevent or delay the decline in eyesight caused by AMD.

As vitamin A plays an important role in the growth and development of your cells, its influence on cancer risk and role in cancer prevention is of interest to scientists.
In observational studies, eating higher amounts of vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene has been linked to a decreased risk of certain types of cancer, including Hodgkin’s lymphoma, as well as cervical, lung and bladder cancer. Yet, though high intakes of vitamin A from plant foods have been associated with a reduced risk of cancer, animal foods which contain active forms of vitamin A aren’t linked in the same way. Current evidence suggests that getting adequate vitamin A, especially from plants, is important for healthy cell division and may reduce your risk of some types of cancer.

Vitamin A plays a vital role in maintaining your body’s natural defenses. This includes the mucous barriers in your eyes, lungs, gut and genitals which help trap bacteria and other infectious agents.
It’s also involved in the production and function of white blood cells, which help capture and clear bacteria and other pathogens from your bloodstream. This means that a deficiency in vitamin A can increase your susceptibility to infections and delay your recover when you get sick. In countries where infections like measles and malaria are common, correcting vitamin A deficiency in children has been shown to decrease the risk of dying from these diseases.

Acne is a chronic, inflammatory skin disorder. People with this condition develop painful spots and blackheads, most commonly on the face, back and chest. These spots occur when the sebaceous glands get clogged up with dead skin and oils. These glands are found in the hair follicles on your skin and produce sebum, an oily, waxy substance that keeps your skin lubricated and waterproof.
Though the spots are physically harmless, acne may have a serious effect on people’s mental health and lead to low self-esteem, anxiety and depression It has been suggested that vitamin A deficiency may increase your risk of developing acne, as it causes an overproduction of the protein keratin in your hair follicles. This would increase your risk of acne by making it more difficult for dead skin cells to be removed from hair follicles, leading to blockages.

The key nutrients needed for maintaining healthy bones as you age are protein, calcium and vitamin D. However, eating enough vitamin A is also necessary for proper bone growth and development, and a deficiency in this vitamin has been linked to poor bone health.
In fact, people with lower blood levels of vitamin A are at a higher risk of bone fractures than people with healthy levels. Additionally, a recent meta-analysis of observational studies found that people with the highest amounts of total vitamin A in their diet had a 6% decreased risk of fractures. However, vitamin A status alone does not determine your risk of fractures, and the impact of the availability of other key nutrients, like vitamin D, also plays a role.

Vitamin A is essential for maintaining a healthy reproductive system in both men and women, as well as ensuring the normal growth and development of embryos during pregnancy. Rat studies examining the importance of vitamin A in male reproduction have shown that a deficiency blocks the development of sperm cells, causing infertility. Likewise, animal studies have suggested that vitamin A deficiency in females can impact reproduction by reducing egg quality and affecting egg implantation in the womb.
In pregnant women, vitamin A is also involved in the growth and development of many major organs and structures of the unborn child, including the skeleton, nervous system, heart, kidneys, eyes, lungs and pancreas.