Benefits of Vitamin A

Vitamin A is a large group of fat-soluble compounds (soluble in lipids but insoluble in water) that promote good vision, bone growth, reproduction and cell growth. Vitamin A also keeps your immune system in good shape by protecting the walls of your lungs and intestinal tract and producing white blood cells (cells of human blood contains a nucleus, also called leukocytes, which mainly plays a role in defense the body against foreign agents). Read also: Immune system: how to strengthen the immune system?

There are two types of vitamin A:

* Preformed: preformed vitamin A is derived exclusively from foods of animal origin (meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, etc..). It is absorbed as retinol (the form most useful to vitamin A) and esters of retinol,
* Carotenoids: Vitamin A-like carotenoids from fruits and vegetables , and must be converted to retinol by the body. There are over 560 carotenoids in nature, but the body still absorbs less than 10%. One of the most important carotenoids is beta-carotene, an important nutrient that can prevent certain diseases like cancer.