The New Vitamin & Mineral Guide 2

[mysteriouza]

Perhaps one of the most well known benefits of vitamin A is the incredible impact it has on our hair and skin.
This is probably why you see many cosmetic products promoting the use of vitamin A.
In this particular area of importance vitamin A forms can sometimes be described as retinoids, retinol and pro vitamin A.

To give a brief description of what they are exactly, retinoids are a family of chemical compounds that have amazing benefits to the skins overall health and immune function.
They have been proven to help and treat and prevent major dermatological conditions such as inflammatory skin disorders and skin cancers.

Retinol, part of the same family is the animal form of vitamin A, its an antioxidant vitamin vital for vision and bone growth and can be consumed through milk and eggs, whereas pro vitamin A carotenoids can be found in vegetable plants like carrots and spinach.

If you want good vision, healthy skin and hair, and you want your children to grow in leaps and bounds then vitamin A is the way to go.


How do you get it?
The best way to get vitamin A and the most goodness from your vegetables is by eating it raw, when you cook vegetables you are basically destroying the vitamin A and beta carotene when it is cooked.
If fresh food is not an option than always go for frozen as the canning of fruits and veg strips away a lot of the goodness originally contained.
Foods such as carrot, sweet potato, kale, butternut squash, sweet red pepper, mango, and cantaloupe are ideal suppliers of vitamin A.
However, fish oil, cod liver oil, beef and chicken liver are also strong contenders, but, it is much easier and healthier to go with the goodness of vegetables for your vitamin A.


To prevent your loss of vitamin A during food preparation and storage, always keep fruits and veg covered and refrigerated and if you really need to cook, try to steam vegetables and bake or broil meats versus any other form of cooking.

Don't forget your daily cereals and milk which are fortified with high levels of vitamin A.
When foods are processed they lose all the natural benefits and therefore the vitamins have to be measurably replaced.

More bad news for smokers and drinkers...
Smoking and drinking are vitamin A's nemesis, the chemicals in tobacco and alcohol stop your body from absorbing the vitamin and quickly depletes what you might have left in your body.
The answer is not running out to get beta carotene supplements as there have been recent studies that suggest there is an increased incidence of lung cancer for smokers who take these supplements.
Go and eat some colorful fruits and it will do the same job, but provide far better benefits.