Nutrition Articles

With all the concern in today's market for antioxidants and anti-aging products, I have not read much about this topic: Vitamin A as an antioxidant, and animal sources vs. raw food sources. I have only read that it is an antioxidant, and that people usually take it in pill form. Today I am going to write about the need for vitamin A from natural, raw food sources, how it affects the body, and what causes us to be deficient in this essential antioxidant.

In my research I have found that Vitamin A can come from animal, as well as raw food sources. Our bodies take the vitamin A from animal sources, and convert it to retinol, and the vitamin A from raw food sources (called beta carotene) is converted to retinal or retinol. The source is important, since the animal source can be overdosed on (causing death, osteoporosis, and birth defects, to name a few things), and the raw food source cannot. Our bodies simply take carotene, and convert it to vitamin A as needed. See my Vitamin A chart for a list of raw food vs. animal sources of vitamin A.

Vitamin A helps us as an antioxidant by facilitating bodily tissue reparation and maintenance (infection resistance), nourishing the cornea, ensuring permeability of membranes, and stimulating our thyroid and adrenal glands, to name a few things. Refer to the vitamin A chart for a more complete list.

Some of the deficiency symptoms are acne, allergies, anorexia, appetite loss, dry hair, fatigue, insomnia, rough dry skin, soft tooth enamel, and migraine headaches.

The vitamins B complex, C, D, and E (and others, see chart) will help our bodies to use and/or absorb vitamin A, thus, our source needs to be more from raw food, to achieve optimal effects in our skin, hair, and eyes. When we get our nutrition from living, raw food, rather than pills, we will achieve much better results, as the fresh, raw food contains what we need to absorb and digest what we eat. See my article on enzymes to better understand why I say raw food, vs. just any plant matter.

I remember reading this great true Indian story, Ride the Wind. This white woman was captured, but became one of the Indians in her heart, so when she was ?rescued?, many years later, she didn't want to be rescued anymore. Anyway, she tells of the buffalo hunt, and her people being so starved for food, the first thing they would do upon killing the buffalo, was to immediately, in the field, eat the animals' vital organs, especially the liver. She was grossed out at first, but came to love it, pretty much immediately, since she needed the nutrition. I believe they were starving for vitamin A, because that is where vitamin A is found! I am so thankful to live in this great country, where we can access whatever we feel like eating, whenever we want!

So, the obvious reasons for modern day deficiency are, not getting the complementing nutrients, not eating any of the animal sources (crash dieting?) and not eating plenty of the natural raw food sources. There is one more reason: ?anti-vitamins?. These products work against our absorption of vitamin A: alcohol, coffee, sugar, and tobacco, to name just a few (see chart for more). So with the combination of most people just not eating enough fresh raw food, and eating too much of the wrong foods, is it any wonder that skin problems abound, as well as the other deficiency symptoms?

I encourage you to make wise choices, and to eat plenty of raw foods. Here, in the land of plenty, where we can access all the yellow fruits and vegetables any time of the year, we have no excuse! For a great raw food recipe book that will help ensure your intake of vitamin A, check out Live Unfired Foods, by Klacena Ferguson.