VITAMIN A

Important Vitamin A questions:

What does Vitamin A do  for your health?
Where do you get Vitamin A without swallowing a pill? 
Is it OK to purchase synthetic Vitamin A in the grocery store since I must go food shopping anyway?

First things first.  

What does Vitamin A do for your health?
     Vitamin A is needed for tissue and bone growth and for proper immune function, helping us fight off viral infections.  It also protects the eyes from UV damage and improves eyesight.  It also protects the skin from too much sun.     Vitamin A is also essential for reproductive health ( male and female),  Our bones also need this vitamin for normal metabolism.  Those benefits make Vitamin A very important to our health. It will be helpful to know how to get plenty in our daily meals.   So, that question is answered next.

Where do you get Vitamin A without swallowing a pill?  These foods are listed with the first one containing the most.  These are fresh, not canned, dried, nor frozen, which will probably contain undesirable ingredients.

1. passion fruit
2. cantaloupe *
3. grapefruit *
4. watermelon *
5. mango *
6. papaya **
7. guava
8. tomato *

Other foods containing at least 100 IU Vitamin A:  avocado*, black currants, blueberries, grapes
(domestic) *, peach , orange * # 26, nectarine, plum.   How often have told your children to eat their carrots to help them see better?   Carrots did not make it on the USDA food and nutrition list, not that it matters much! 

WHFoods.com lists these foods as the world' healthiest foods rich in Vitamin A:

1. raw carrots
2. calf's liver, braised
3. spinach, boiled
4. sweet potato, baked *
5. kale, boiled
6. turnip greens, cooked
7. winter squash, baked *
8. collard greens, boiled
9. Swiss chard, boiled
10. bell peppers, red, raw

*  These foods were listed within the first 25 fruits and vegetables of 49, by foodnews.org, for amount of  
     pesticides found in them, making these foods with the lesser likelihood to contain pesticides.   Celery is
     number 49 and the worst food for amount of pesticides.  I would add white potatoes to the list because 
     they are so loaded with pesticides that they are regulated by the EPA, as a pesticide and not the USDA
     as a food!   That is a challenge for me because potatoes have always been a staple in my kitchen.
** About half of Hawaii's papayas are genetically modified. 

   Suggestion: choose those with one * unless you purchase organic foods to avoid pesticides, as much as possible.  Very few fresh fruits and vegetables for sale in the US are genetically modified.    That leads us to the concern for making up the difference.

Is it OK to purchase synthetic Vitamin A in the grocery store since I must go food shopping anyway?  

   Millions of people do.   But that does not make it the smart thing to do.   Synthetic vitamins are created in the lab, as a copy of the real thing.   Sometimes they are what I called the "stripped down version" with none of the co-nutrients found in the real food.  You may experience side effects from the additives and from the unnatural state of the vitamin. 
   The experts who oppose nutritional supplements are often trying to prove that vitamins are dangerous by doing their "scientific" research.    A recent report indicated that there was an increased risk for some cancers among those who were taking Vitamin A supplements.   What they did not include in that report was the fact that they did the research using people who were taking synthetic Vitamin A!   Also, synthetic Vitamin A interferes with the body's use of Vitamin D. 
   So, the answer, from my viewpoint is NO.   It is not OK to take synthetic Vitamin A, nor any other synthetic vitamin.  Our bodies cannot use them.  
   Have I created a problem
   A perfect way to make sure that you and they are getting enough is to add a Vitamin A supplement that is
made from whole food, organic, non-gmo.   I will make it really easy for you to know where to get that supplement.   Just click here.  You will be taken straight to the best source, for all your vitamins and minerals.     Remember how picky I am.  Only the best, the real thing, will do.   Why buy bed-pan bullets?! (Those are the synthetic supplements that pass right through the body.)

Your health is in your hands. Handle with care. MyraSaidIt?