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Introducing
Vitamin A - The Vision Saver
This vitamin was the first vitamin to
be discovered by human. In the ancient Greece, people realized
that by eating the animal livers, their eyesight improves
dramatically. What they didn't know was it's not the liver
that give them ability to heal the eyesight problems, the
secret element is Vitamin A which is sufficiently contained
in the animal livers. Now days, we know Vitamin A can do
much more than just improving our eyesights. For instance,
we now know Vitamin A may help to prevent many skin diseases,
even acne.
Click
here to read the article on Acne and Vitamins.
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Why
Vitamin A?
When Vitamin A was first discovered,
it was called the "anti-infective element." It
helped lab animals from getting eye infections. Vitamin
A helps you put up strong front-line barriers to infection
in order to fend off infections and illnesses. Without enough
Vitamin A, germs can easily pass through your outer defense
system, and into your body. Vitamin A also helps your immune
system to fight against the germs once they get into your
body. Therefore, it is a "double barrelled protection
agent" of your body.
Vitamin A is also essential for healthy eyesight, as human
have discovered centuries ago. Children and teens need plenty
of Vitamin A to help them grow properly and build strong
bones and teeth. Even after you’re fully grown, Vitamin
A can help your body to constantly replace old, worn-out
body cells with new ones and keep your bones and teeth strong
as always. Because over-dose Vitamin A can be toxic, therefore,
people today are studying Retinol and Carotene more closely
rather than concentration on pure Vitamin A supplements.
It is known that
excess amount of vitamin A could be very harmful to our
health. Therefore, we do not recommend people directly intake
vitamin A supplements. Instead, one should take some extra
Carotene
supplements since they may keep you away from the vitamin
A deficiency and also help you to fight free radicals. Alpha
Carotene and Beta Carotenes are one of the most effective
supplements helping cancer patients to fight against the
fatal disease.
Among the many different kinds of carotene supplements,
we suggest the Natural Beta-Carotene 25,000IU from NOW.
This supplement contains additional antioxidant carotenoids
Lutein and Zeaxanthin, and natural alpha-carotene. These
cofactors are only found in D. salina natural algae Beta-Carotene.
Click
here for Natural Beta-Carotene 25,000IU from NOW
For more information on Oxidation and Antioxidants, click
here to read our document on OPCs.
Benefits of Vitamin
A:
- Helps body external and internal defense systems to fight
against harmful infections.
- Helps you to form and maintain healthy looking skin, hair,
and mucous membranes.
- Helps you to prevent (or fight against) many eyesight
related problems such as night blindness and formation of
visual purple in the eye.
- Helps in bone growth, teeth development.
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What's
the Recommended Dietary Allowance for Vitamin A?
The latest recommendations for vitamin
A are given in the Dietary Reference Intakes developed by
the Institute of Medicine.
Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) is the umbrella term for
a group of reference values used for planning and assessing
diets for healthy people.
One of those references values, the Recommended Dietary
Allowance (RDA), is the average daily dietary intake level
sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all
(97-98%) healthy individuals in each age and gender group.
RDAs for vitamin A are listed as Retinol Activity Equivalents
(RAE) to account for the different activities of retinol
and provitamin A carotenoids. In the listings below, RDAs
are also listed in International Units (IU) because food
and some supplement labels list vitamin A content in International
Units (1 RAE in micrograms (ug) = 3.3 IU).
Children and Youth:
Infants 0-6 months: 400 mcg/day
Infants 7-12 months: 500 mcg/day
Children 1-3 years: 300 mcg/day
Children 4-8 years: 400 mcg/day
Children 9-13 years: 600 mcg/day
Adolescents 14-18 years: 700 mcg/day (female) 900 mcg/day
(male)
Adults:
Adults 19 years and older:
700 mcg/day (female) 900 mcg/day (male)
Pregnancy 18 years and younger: 750 mcg/day
Pregnancy 19-years and older: 770 mcg/day
Breastfeeding 18 years and younger: 1,200 mcg/day
Breastfeeding 19-years and older: 1,300 mcg/day
Results of two national surveys, the third National Health
and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III 1988-91)
and the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals
(CSFII 1994) suggested that the dietary intake of some
Americans does not meet recommended levels for vitamin
A. These surveys highlight the importance of encouraging
all Americans to include dietary sources of vitamin A
in their daily diets.
There is no RDA for beta-carotene or other provitamin
A carotenoids. The Institute of Medicine report suggests
that consuming 3 to 6 mg of beta-carotene daily will maintain
plasma beta-carotene blood levels in the range associated
with a lower risk of chronic diseases. A diet that provides
five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day
and includes some dark green and leafy vegetables and
deep yellow or orange fruits should provide recommended
amounts of beta-carotene.
Among all the carotene supplements,
the following two are on top of our editors' list:
Click
here for Natural Beta-Carotene 25,000IU from NOW
Click
here for 1+ Vitamin/Mineral 120 tabs from Pioneer Nutritionals
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