Some Great Vitamin A Food Sources

Vitamin A Food Sources

Understanding where you can get your vitamin A is just as important as making sure you don't get too much of the vitamin. Too much vitamin A can be quite toxic.

The media has been telling us for years about the antioxidant activity of vitamin A and beta-carotene. But, research shows that beta-carotene doesn't really have much antioxidant activity. So, in lieu of this, people go on a vitamin-taking rampage and end up with too much vitamin A. This isn't a good idea! This same idea goes for skin creams with loads of vitamin A. Don't get too much of it! The question is, do you need daily vitamin supplements?

It's important to realize that eating a healthy, balanced diet will provide enough vitamin A (and all the other vitamins and minerals!) that you'll need. It's actually quite rare to find an individual in a developed country that clinically needs a vitamin A supplement.

Here are some great food sources of vitamin A...

Vitamin A Food Sources
Cream	Butter
Egg Yolk	Liver
Kidney	Other Organ Meats
Dark Green/Deep Yellow Vegetables	Low-Fat/Skim Dairy Products
Yellow and Orange Fruits (Raw)	Fortified Cereals and Organic Products
Pumpking	Beets

Some of these items are normally fortified with vitamin A (and other nutrients) because preparation destroys its natural occurrence. Some of these foods include TV dinners, margarine and low-fat dairy products such as skim milk and low-fat cottage cheese. Because vitamin A is fat soluble, removing the fat from these items also removes vitamin A!

The same is true for the other fat soluble vitamins ( D, E and K) - the process of removing fat will also remove them. These nutrients must be added later.

Facts About Vitamin A in Food Preparation

Don't worry, you won't destroy the vitamin by cooking at high temperatures (except for frying), freezing or using any other storage method (just keep the food covered). However, allowing your vegetables to dry out or your butter to sit out for long periods of time will destroy the vitamin A in these sources! The point about fruit is most important - if you want to make sure you're getting all the vitamins from the fruit, be sure to eat the fruit raw!

Here are some tips to make sure your vitamin A food sources are all that they're cracked up to be...

1) Eat your fruits and vegetables raw

2) Do not fry your foods - this process might destroy vitamin A. It also avoids the possibility of consuming large amounts of trans fats.

3) Make sure to cover all foods during storage to prevent drying as much as possible

Eating dry, unripe fruits, vegetables and rancid fats will have no vitamin A benefit! Then again, would you eat it if it were sitting out that long? Probably not.

One other tip concerning your vitamin A intake is that certain essential fatty acid supplements contain large amounts of vitamin A. Taking lots of these types of pills or powders can lead to a vitamin A overdose.

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