The 6 Benefits Of Vitamin A

There's more to the benefits of Vitamin A than being a very beneficial antioxidant for you. These include
keeping your skin healthy to fighting off infection & disease (including cancer). And you should take at
least 10,000 to 15,000 IU a day. Let's go over some of these benefits. VITAMIN A AS AN ANTIOXIDANT
Yes, Vitamin A does act as an antioxidant. Sort of. It's not exactly Vitamin A that's acting as the
antioxidant... it's the carotenes. Let me explain. Carotenes (i.e. beta carotene, alpha carotene) are the
precursor to Vitamin A and are found in plant sources (i.e. carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin). And the
human body has 2 functions for carotenes - turn it into Vitamin A or turn it into an antioxidant. About
40% of carotenes are converted to Vitamin A while 60% functions as powerful antioxidants. This is good
for you because your body will turn carotenes to Vitamin A only if your body needs it. The rest will
circulate through your blood as antioxidants. This is helpful because there are some issues with Vitamin
A overdose and toxicity. No need to worry about that with carotenes. And there are many types of
carotenes that act as great antioxidants (i.e. alpha & beta carotene, lycopene). Carotenes specifically
fight off the singlet oxygen free multivitamins radical. Another important thing to consider is that only
carotenes, like beta carotene, have antioxidant powers. The Vitamin A that comes from animal sources
do not have the same antioxidant benefits as beta carotene. The "carotene-version" of Vitamin A acts as
a powerful antioxidant and you get carotenes mostly from plant sources. ANTI-INFECTION Picture an
army of soldiers. There's the front-line, the back-line and everything else in between. Now think of your
body. The front-line is your skin and the outer parts of your tissues and organs. The back-line are the
more sensitive and crucial organs (i.e. brain, heart). Vitamin A helps to make that front-line stronger
with growth and repair. How does it do this? Without getting too scientific, the front-line I mentioned
that's your skin and outer barrier is technically called "epithelial tissue." And this front-line/epithelial
tissue is mostly made of fat. And the structure of Vitamin A causes it to be a fat-soluble vitamin that
benefits these fatty tissues. To go a little further, the front-line/epithelial tissues include your skin, the
outer layer of your eyes, mouth, nose, throat, digestive tract and urinary tract. This frontline is your
body's first line of defense against disease, infection and free radicals. This vitamin is also very important
for keeping your front-line barriers such as the skin, eyes, nose, throat, lungs, digestive tract & urinary
tract strong - helping you fight off and protect you against infection Article Source: