Vision & Vitamin A For Men

By HelloLife

Vision and Vitamin A for Men

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means it's stored in the liver and fat cells until it's needed. Vitamin A is actually known to keep the eyes moist and improve vision.Our bodies actually recognize vitamin A as health maintenance for vision and healthy skin.Vitamin A is also known an immune system booster. Vitamin A comes from two sources:animals and plants.The animal form of vitamin A is called retinol.It's the antioxidant vitamin that supports vision growth.

The animal and plant sources that contain vitamin A

Technically, vitamin A doesn't come from food.Rather, the body converts needed substances from certain food to convert to vitamin A. These foods are called vitamin A precursors. You can find the following animal and plant sources that contain vitamin A.They are:beef liver, broccoli, cantaloupe, carrot juice, carrots, cheese, chicken liver, collard greens, eggs, fat-free and whole milk, fish liver oils, kale, lettuce, pumpkin, spinach, sweet peppers, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, winter squash, and yogurt.

How much vitamin A is recommended?

The daily recommended dose of vitamin A for men is 900 micrograms.

Why is vitamin A is important for vision?

A deficiency of vitamin can only be the result as a lack of dietary intake.It's suspected that it's a depletion of beta-carotene that increases the risk of cancer when there's a vitamin A deficiency. Beta-carotene is suspected because it's a well-known antioxidant and is known to reduce cancer risks.Further, beta-carotene reduces lung cancer risk in smokers. The earliest warning signals of a vitamin A deficiency include anemia from an iron deficiency, cancer risk increase, follicular hyperkeratoinosis, infection susceptibility (this includes AIDS, abscesses, boils, bronchitis, measles, and yeast infections), night blindness, and vision quality decrease. Continual deficiency of vitiman A includes risk for Bitot's spots (triangular gray spots on the eye); colored vision distortion; corneal blindness, degeneration, drying and softening; deterioration of eye tissue, dry skin; hypokeratosis (white lumps on hair follicles); impaired immunity; loss of appetite, balance, smell and taste; night blindness; secretion reduction of mucus membranes; and skin disorders (this includes warts, rosacea, rashes, and psoriasis).

The science behind vitamin A

The rod and the cone cells are two cell types that are located in the retina.Photoreception in the eyes is the function of these two cell types.A photoreceptor pigment exists in the membranes of the rod and cone cells.The photosensitive compound in the eyes contains opsin, a protein, which is in the same organic compound as vitamin A. The opsin in the rod cells is called scotopsin.The photoreceptor in the rod cells is rhodopsin, sometimes called visual purple.This compound is made of scotopsin and 11-cis-retinene, another form of vitamin A.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_A

http://blogs.webmd.com/eye-on-vision/2006/04/vitamin-malnourished-in-usa.html