Vitamin A, also called retinol, is a fat-soluble vitamin that can promote the formation of photopigments in the eye and maintain normal visual function. In addition, vitamin A also maintains the health of epithelial tissue cells, promotes the synthesis of immunoglobulins, and maintains normal bone growth.
If the human body lacks vitamin A, what will be the impact on health
1. The earliest symptom of vitamin A deficiency is a decrease in dark adaptation ability, and in severe cases, it can cause night blindness. Vitamin A deficiency can cause dry eye disease, which can lead to blindness.
2. In addition to causing eye symptoms, vitamin A deficiency can also cause epithelial dryness, proliferation and keratinization in different tissues of the body, leading to various symptoms, such as keratosis of sebaceous glands and sweat glands, dry skin, and hair follicles. Hyperkeratosis, follicular papules, and hair loss.
3. Vitamin A deficiency can cause low immune function and cause growth and development retardation in children.
4. Vitamin A deficiency can also cause decreased appetite and susceptibility to infection, especially children and the elderly, who are prone to respiratory inflammation, which can lead to death in severe cases.
How to supplement vitamin A deficiency
Supplementation method 1. Nutritional health products, increase the consumption of nutritional health products containing vitamin A in an appropriate amount. Nutritional health products containing vitamin A have high content and are easy to absorb. Fast, like cod liver oil.
Supplementary method two is to eat more fruits and vegetables containing vitamin A, such as apples, loquats, cherries, shepherd's purse, tomatoes, eggplants, etc. Third, eat more meat containing vitamin A, such as pork, chicken, crab, snail and other foods. - Vitamin deficiency is short-term and can be replenished through dietary adjustments.
What are the foods containing vitamin A
1. Fruits: pears, apples, loquats, cherries, bananas, longans, apricots, lychees, watermelons, and melons. With the exception of apricots, most yellow fruits contain less than 400 units of vitamin A in a serving.
2. Vegetables: purslane, Chinese cabbage, shepherd's purse, tomatoes, eggplants, pumpkins, cucumbers, green peppers, spinach, alfalfa, pea sprouts, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc.
The dangers of abusing vitamin A
For those in need, the benefits of using vitamin A outweigh the risks. However, if you take vitamin A in high doses for more than 6 months, side effects may occur. The eyes are rich in blood vessels, and the blood flow is about 20 times that of the brain tissue. Because the melanin substances in the retina and uvea have a high binding ability with certain drugs, Therefore, it is extremely vulnerable to damage if a large amount of medication is used for a long time. Abuse of vitamin A can cause ocular angioedema, compress the optic nerve, cause blurred vision, diplopia, photophobia, and nystagmus. In severe cases, it can cause retinal hemorrhage, exophthalmos, and even eyebrows and eyelashes may fall off.