Are you already full of cherries, herbs, vegetables and fruits? If so, then soon the next stage of the summer “marathon”: watermelons, melons and other delights, charged with vitamins, which are so necessary for our health.
But today we will talk about a vitamin that does not wait for summer to appear in our diet. The hero of today’s material is vitamin A: it is found in carrots, beef liver, apricots, dried apricots, herbs, bell peppers, butter, hard cheese and so on – in general, it is found in the products of our usual diet. Vitamin A is involved in the “building” of strong immunity, is responsible for the health of the organs of vision and normalizes certain body processes.
How to understand that a person lacks this substance? Is vitamin A used in the creation of special food and is it possible to drink a course of this vitamin for prophylaxis without a doctor’s testimony?
We talked about this with Antonina Shagina: a nutritional technologist and member / secretary of the public association “Nutritionologists of Russia” answered our questions and told about some facts about this vitamin.
– Hello, Antonina! What functional foods are rich in vitamin A?
– Hello! It is difficult to answer unequivocally which specific functional foods are rich in vitamin A: it all depends on the purpose of using the product. For example, this vitamin can be added to drugs to improve vision, to products for the health and beauty of the skin, for immunostimulation, and so on.
– Is it possible to independently understand that the body lacks this vitamin?
– There are some symptoms that signal hypovitaminosis.
For example, dry skin, acne, hyperkeratosis of the elbows and knees; dry and dull hair, brittle nails, a tendency to infectious diseases, and so on.
But it is important to understand that such symptoms can occur due to a number of other pathologies. There may also be a violation of the absorption of this vitamin by the body.
Therefore, in no case should you diagnose yourself on your own. Only a doctor can identify the problem after taking a history and passing certain tests.
– How widely is vitamin A used in the creation of special food – for children, sports, for pregnant women, and so on?
– As I said above, it all depends on the purpose of the admission. For example, vitamin A can be used in baby food due to the fact that when this vitamin is deficient, bone growth can be impaired.
– It turns out that there are contraindications for vitamin A and it is desirable for someone to be more careful with it?
– Right. For example, supplemental vitamin intake for pregnant women is dangerous. In excess, vitamin A can provoke a slowdown in fetal growth and abnormal development of its urinary tract.
– Speaking of dietary supplements – is it possible to harm the body if you independently “prescribe” vitamin A for yourself and take a course on drink?
– Self-administration of dietary supplements can be harmful – and not only in the case of vitamin A. A person is not able to determine whether there is a lack of some vitamin in the body – perhaps a lack of substances is observed against the background of a certain disease that needs to be treated.
And if we talk about vitamin A, then the situation is even more serious, because it is a hormone vitamin – in other words, it is synthesized in the body itself and participates in processes like some hormones.
Therefore, the intake of any vitamins must be conscious, and it must be treated responsibly.
The material was prepared by Alexandra Goryunova