Why Vitamin A?

Photo: Malidate Van

Why Vitamin A? 

Vitamin A is often known for the role it plays in vision; however, there are many more layers to the function of vitamin A. Vitamin A is also essential for the development of your baby’s heart, eyes, ears, lungs, and other organs, along with immune function support. Adequate intake may even protect moms from developing night blindness.

Two forms

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin found in two forms, preformed vitamin A and provitamin A. Preformed vitamin A, or retinoids (such as retinol) are found in animal sources and are absorbed and utilized efficiently in the body. 

Provitamin A, found in fruits and vegetables is not as easily absorbed and must be converted into retinol by the body. The efficiency of this conversion process can differ depending on health status, genetics, and any digestive complications you may have. 

Maternal Needs

Recommendations for Vitamin A are confusing. RAE or Retinol Activity Equivalents is a standard measure of vitamin A. This measurement reflects how different sources of vitamin A are converted to retinol in the body. 

The recommended daily intake of vitamin A during pregnancy is 770 mcg RAE and 1,300 mcg RAE during breastfeeding. 

But what does this even mean?????  

To put this into perspective:  1 microgram (mcg) of preformed A is equal to 12-24 mcg of provitamin A. 

...Did we lose you yet? 

Let’s try to make this a little more simple... ½ cup of carrots has about 5500 mcg of provitamin A, which equates to about 460 RAEs. This is assuming your body converts ALL of the provitamin A to preformed A - which, it likely will not.

….I don’t know about you, but I don’t eat numbers, let’s talk FOOD

Variety for the Win! 

Bottom line, it’s beneficial to get both forms of vitamin A in your diet. If you do not eat animal products, preformed vitamin A can be taken in supplement form. However, you should be cautious when taking the synthetic form of retinol. Overconsumption of the synthetic vitamin can have negative outcomes, such as birth defects. When taking the supplement form, the tolerable upper limit for synthetic retinol is 3,000 mcg RAE/day. 

You may be thinking, I’ll just eat tons of carrots, spinach, and sweet potatoes to make up the vitamin A I’m missing from animal foods. There are a few reasons this may not work in your favor. The first, as mentioned above, some people do not efficiently convert provitamin A to the active, usable form in the body. Meaning that just because one sweet potato is equivalent to twice your daily needs, doesn’t mean your body is able to absorb or convert that amount. The second issue is some research shows that consuming large amounts of beta-carotene (provitamin A), may result in decreased absorption in the body. Meaning the more you eat, the less is absorbed. 

My basic recommendation is to get a variety of whole food sources of vitamin A from plant and animal sources. When taking retinol in supplement form, stay under 3000 mcg a day.

Preformed Sources:

Provitamin Sources:

Photo: Polina Tankilevitch

Try one of our recipes!

Salmon Salad 

Add all of the following together to make a vitamin A loaded meal!

• 3 oz. piece of grilled salmon

• 2 cups of greens of your choice

• ½ cup of red peppers

• 1 hard-boiled egg,

• ¼ cup of shredded carrots

• 2 Tbsp. dressing of choice

This meal is about 480 mcg RAE!

References

1. Bastos Maia S, Rolland Souza AS, Costa Caminha MF, et al. Vitamin A and Pregnancy: A Narrative Review. Nutrients. 2019;11(3):681. Published 2019 Mar 22. doi:10.3390/nu11030681

2. Novotny JA, Harrison DJ, Pawlosky R, Flanagan VP, Harrison EH, Kurilich AC. Beta-carotene conversion to vitamin A decreases as the dietary dose increases in humans. J Nutr. 2010;140(5):915-918. doi:10.3945/jn.109.116947

3. Office of Dietary Supplements - Vitamin A. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/. Published February 14, 2020. Accessed November 1, 2020. 

4. Strobel M, Tinz J, Biesalski H-K. The importance of β-carotene as a source of vitamin A with special regard to pregnant and breastfeeding women. European Journal of Nutrition. 2007;46(S1):1-20. doi:10.1007/s00394-007-1001-z 

5. Zile MH. Function of Vitamin A in Vertebrate Embryonic Development. The Journal of Nutrition. 2001;131(3):705-708. doi:10.1093/jn/131.3.705