How to Increase Vitamin A Intake

Vitamin A, also called retinol, helps keep your skin and hair looking healthy and is necessary for healthy bones, teeth, eyes, body cells, and tissues. It helps your body protect itself from infection and helps with reproduction. The U.S. RDA for Vitamin A per day is 2,600 IU for a male and 3,300 IU for a female.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Liver/Giblets
• Fish
• Dairy products
• Cereals

1. Eat a variety of foods rich in vitamin A and you should get all you need to maintain a healthy dose.

2. Eat lots of orange fruits and vegetables and green leafy vegetables and tomatoes. Eat them raw when you can because they lose nutrients, including vitamin A, when you cook them.

3. Eat organ meats such as liver and giblets. Also eat some fish like cod and salmon. Bake or broil meat instead of frying. Some vitamin A is lost when you fry meat.

4. Drink milk and eat dairy which is a good source of vitamin A. Even low fat and skim milks have vitamin A fortified in them because when they remove the fat, the vitamin A is lost with it. Butter is also rich in vitamin A.

5. Eat cold and hot breakfast cereals which are fortified with vitamin A.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are deficient in vitamin A, you might have the following symptoms: eye problems which may include night blindness, dry skin, problems with reproduction, not growing properly (in children).
• Food contains very little vitamin A. The body actually converts foods rich in carotene into vitamin A in the intestines.
• Too much vitamin A can be toxic to the system. It's safest to get your vitamin A from food sources rather than supplements because you risk overdose.

Resources

• Nutrition information
• List of USDA RDA

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