What Happens When You're Deficient in Vitamin A? Top 7 Benefits of Vitamin A You Should Know
Through What Happens When You’re Deficient in Vitamin A? Top 7 Benefits of Vitamin A You Should Know post, let’s explore the roles and benefits of Vitamin A in maintaining our health and what diseases can occur due to Vitamin A deficiency.
In ancient Egypt, liver was used to treat night blindness, a practice that proved effective due to the liver’s high Vitamin A content. Such empirical treatments in ancient times have been scientifically validated through modern research, which highlights the physiological roles and benefits of Vitamin A.
Let’s discover the amazing benefits of Vitamin A, which is an essential nutrient for maintaining our body’s health, and also learn about foods rich in Vitamin A.
Now, let’s dive into the top 7 benefits of Vitamin A you should know.
1. Maintaining and Improving Vision
– Vitamin A plays a crucial role in maintaining and improving vision.
– Retinal: A major form of Vitamin A related to vision.
– Rhodopsin: A visual pigment composed of retinal and opsin protein, found in the rod cells of the retina, responsible for detecting light and generating visual signals.
– Rhodopsin regeneration: Sufficient Vitamin A is needed to form new rhodopsin.
– Vitamin A deficiency: Impairs rhodopsin production, leading to reduced rhodopsin regeneration.
→ Leading to eye disorders such as night blindness, keratomalacia, and conjunctival dryness.
※ Night blindness: Vitamin A deficiency hampers rhodopsin regeneration, reducing vision in low light conditions.
※ Keratomalacia: Severe Vitamin A deficiency can lead to corneal dryness and damage, potentially causing vision loss.
※ Conjunctival dryness: Reduced mucus secretion in the conjunctiva leads to dryness.
2. Strengthening Immune Function
– Vitamin A plays an essential role in enhancing immune function.
– It is critical for the growth, differentiation, and regulation of immune cells.
→ Promotes T-cell growth and differentiation, contributes to B-cell maturation, and aids in antibody production.
– Encourages skin and mucosal cell regeneration, strengthens physical barriers, and promotes mucus secretion in mucosal cells to help remove pathogens and foreign substances.
– Regulates cytokine production, helping to alleviate inflammatory responses and prevent autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
– Vitamin A deficiency: Leads to reduced immune function, making one more susceptible to infections and diseases.
→ Increased frequency of respiratory, gastrointestinal, and skin infections, and delayed recovery after infection.
※ T cells: Crucial for cell-mediated immune response, directly attacking pathogens and activating other immune cells.
※ B cells: Produce antibodies to neutralize pathogens that invade the body.
3. Maintaining Skin and Mucosal Health
– Vitamin A plays a vital role in maintaining skin and mucosal health.
– Promotes the regeneration of epidermal cells, aids in healing damaged skin, and stimulates the formation of new cells.
– Increases skin thickness, protecting against external stimuli.
– Promotes the regeneration and mucus secretion of mucosal cells, maintaining mucosal health.
– Vitamin A deficiency: Leads to deterioration of skin and mucosal health.
→ Skin dryness, conjunctival dryness, respiratory and gastrointestinal problems.
※ Skin dryness: Causes skin dryness and keratinization.
※ Conjunctival dryness: Leads to dryness and damage of the conjunctiva.
※ Respiratory and gastrointestinal issues: Compromise the integrity of mucous membranes, making them more susceptible to infections.
4. Antioxidant Effect
– Vitamin A’s antioxidant effect is crucial in preventing cellular damage and various diseases.
– Protects cell membrane lipids, maintaining cellular structure and function, and prevents DNA damage caused by reactive oxygen species, thereby preventing mutations and cancer.
– Protects skin cells from reactive oxygen species, delaying wrinkles and aging, and promotes tissue regeneration by aiding in the recovery of damaged cells.
– Vitamin A deficiency: Reduces antioxidant function, increasing oxidative stress-induced cellular damage.
→ Increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and aging-related diseases.
※ Reactive oxygen species (ROS): Byproducts naturally produced during cellular respiration; excessive production can cause cellular damage.
※ Antioxidants: Neutralize reactive oxygen species, preventing cellular damage.
5. Promoting Cell Growth and Differentiation
– Vitamin A plays a crucial role in cell growth and differentiation.
– Retinoic acid: A major form of Vitamin A related to cell growth and differentiation.
→ Binds to nuclear receptors, promoting or inhibiting gene transcription, thereby regulating expression.
→ Regulates the cell cycle to ensure that cells divide and grow at appropriate times.
→ Regulates cell differentiation during embryonic development, ensuring the proper formation of various tissues and organs.
– Plays a crucial role in regenerating and maintaining damaged tissues.
– Vitamin A deficiency: Impairs cell growth and differentiation functions.
→ Decreases cell regeneration, delays wound healing, and causes mucosal damage.
6. Maintaining Reproductive Health
– Vitamin A is essential for the development and maturation of reproductive cells (sperm and eggs).
– Promotes cell differentiation and maturation in the testes, increasing sperm production, motility, and survival, thus improving fertility.
– Supports follicle growth in the ovaries and aids in the ovulation of mature eggs, regulating the ovulation cycle and helping maintain a normal menstrual cycle.
– Vital for maintaining the function and structure of reproductive organs.
→ Supports testicular health in men and endometrial health in women.
– Plays a crucial role in supporting normal fetal development during pregnancy.
→ Aids in the formation of major organs (heart, lungs, kidneys) and helps in the development of the fetal immune system.
– Vitamin A deficiency: Causes various reproductive health issues.
→ Reduces sperm production and count, causes irregular menstrual cycles, and impairs fetal growth.
7. Supporting Growth and Development
– Vitamin A plays an important role in growth and development.
– Stimulates osteoblast activity, promoting bone formation, increasing bone density, and strengthening bones.
– Regulates osteoclast activity to maintain balanced bone remodeling, essential for bone regeneration.
– Supports bone growth in growing children.
→ Promotes cell proliferation in growth plates, aiding in bone length growth.
→ Regulates calcium metabolism along with Vitamin D to maintain bone health.
– Vitamin A deficiency: Leads to issues in growth and development.
→ Inhibits growth and development in growing children.
Through What Happens When You’re Deficient in Vitamin A? Top 7 Benefits of Vitamin A You Should Know post on the top 7 benefits of Vitamin A, we’ve confirmed that Vitamin A is an indispensable nutrient for maintaining our health. Adequate intake of Vitamin A is crucial for preventing various diseases and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. How about maintaining a healthy life by properly adjusting your intake of Vitamin A along with a balanced diet?
It would also be good to refer to a post on foods rich in Vitamin A below to learn more about Vitamin A-rich foods.
It would be great to also check the calorie information for various foods.
Thank you for reading this long post.