Vitamins as an essential class of food; vitamin A exclusively

Having shed light on vitamins on Introductory post. Today we shall be looking into fat soluble vitamins ADEK

what is ADEK this is a aide-memoire for fat soluble vitamins, which include

• Vitamin A
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin E
• Vitamin K

We will be discussing ADEK under the followings;

• categories and of vitamins

• Functions in the body

• Sources

• Daily requirements

• Deficiency and Hypervitaminosis(toxicity)

Uniqueness of the vitamins is they are stored in the body and easily absorbed because of their solubility in fat.

VITAMIN A; The vision vitamin
Vitamin A is a powerful anti-oxidant that has an essential role in healthy vision. The active form of vitamin A is formed in many forms;

• Retinol
• Retinal
• Retinoic

The preform vitamin is Beta carotenoid found in numerous fruitss

retinol is alcholic, retinal is aldehyde and retinoic is carboxylic, they always need to be converted to active form before they work

Vitamin A has an anti-oxidant effect on the body, with a great advantage on our body, because oxidation causes aging

• Functions
• Healthy vision
• Cell diffentiation
• Anti-oxidant effect
• Regulation of some sex hormones

Sources; egg, milk, liver, fruits and vegetables like spinach, and the green leafy ones

Deficiency of vitamin A
The deficiency of vitamin A cause the following diseases;

• Night blindness and impaired vision,
  with image become blur, this is corrected by using lenses before treated

• keratomalacia;caused by keratinization of corneal and conjunctiva epithelium
  
  Keratomalacia eye

• bitot's spot; build up of keratin located on the conjunctiva
  
  Source

• xerophthalmia; dryness of the cornea and conjunctiva, may lead to blindness.

High alcohol intake leads to deficieny of vitamin A

• Daily requirement* *
  According to the National Institute of Health NIH
  

• Hypervitaminosis A
  Condition here is mostly acute and sometimes become chronic over a long period of time.
  Symptoms include;
• change in vision
• pains
  *skin changes

High vitamin A supplement intake causes this, they accumulate in the liver and affects our health.

I really hope you enjoy yourself, don't forget to go through our previous topic

https://steemit.com/air-clinic/@lijokabright/vitamins-an-essential-class-of-food.