Healthy Food Sources of Vitamin A

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that plays an essential role in maintaining vision, body growth, immune function and reproductive health and there are a lot of food sources of vitamin a.

Getting adequate amounts of vitamin A from your diet should prevent the symptoms of deficiency, which include hair loss, skin problems, dry eyes, night blindness and increased susceptibility to infections.

Vitamin A is an essential nutrient that plays a role in many bodily processes, including:

• immune function
• reproduction
• skin health
• the function of the lining of the gut, bladder, and other surface tissues
• healthy vision
• growth and development

Deficiency is a leading cause of blindness in developing countries. In contrast, most people in developed countries get enough vitamin A from their diet.

Some of the food sources of vitamin a are,

Red Peppers

Vitamin A is the name for a group of substances called retinoids.

Most Americans get enough from their food, but moms-to-be might want to add an extra helping, because it helps the baby grow.

Red peppers are an excellent source: A half cup gives you almost half of what you need for a single day.

Red sweet peppers contain a significant amount of vitamin A, nearly 120 mcg in a half-cup serving.

On the other hand, green peppers come in at only 18 mcg — a big difference.

Swapping the color of peppers in your food is an easy change that has big nutritional dividends.

Spinach

There are two kinds of vitamin A: Preformed vitamin A — from meat, poultry, fish, and dairy — arrives in your body ready to use. 

The second kind, provitamin A, comes from certain fruits and veggies, like spinach. Your body has to process it before it can go to work.

Spinach is known as a nutrient powerhouse for a reason. A single half-cup serving of spinach contains more than 570 mcg of vitamin A.

Whether you’re eating it raw, in a smoothie, or cooked into a dish, spinach is a great way to get fiber and vitamin A at the same time. 

Sweet Potatoes

Here’s a good reason to load up your plate with these versatile veggies: They’re a great source of vitamin A.

One baked sweet potato gives you more than one and a half times the amount you need each day. 

A single whole sweet potato contains an impressive 1400 mcg of vitamin A in its skin. That’s more than 150% of your daily requirement in a single serving.

For people following plant-based diets, this makes sweet potato an invaluable source of vitamin A. 

Carrots

Vitamin A keeps your eyes working the way they should. People who don’t get enough — it’s mainly a problem in Africa and Southeast Asia — can have night blindness.

So keep an eye out for chances to get your daily dose. Just a half cup of raw carrots will give you half of what you need in a day.

Like many other orange foods, carrots are an excellent source of beta-carotene.

A half-cup of raw carrots contains more than 450 mcg of vitamin A. This is part of the reason why carrots are touted as good for your eyesight.

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