Nutritional News
Vitamin A (Part 2)
Impact of Cooking, Storing & Processing
Vitamin A
Preformed vitamin A is relatively stable in
the animal foods that contain it. Ordinary
handling, storage and cooking methods for
these foods will usually be sufficient to
preserve the content of vitamin A. The
vitamin A in fortified milk can be damaged
if exposed to sunlight for one day. Research
is still under way with regard to the effects
on carotenoid forms of vitamin A.
Volu me
In addition, adequate intake of dietary
fat and zinc is necessary for the
absorption and utilization of vitamin A.
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2
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NO V,
2015
Fun Food Facts!
The carrot is a root vegetable,
usually orange in colour though
purple, red, white and yellow
varieties exist. It has a crisp texture
when fresh
A Note About Fat Soluble Vitamins:
Fat soluble vitamins are usually absorbed in fat
globules (called chylomicrons) that travel through
the lymphatic system of the small intestines and
into the general blood circulation within the body
where they are stored in body tissues where they
tend to remain. A person can potentially have
too much of a vitamin present in their body or
deficient in fat soluble vitamins. There is a risk of
toxicity if too much vitamin A is consumed. Eating
a normal, well-balanced diet will not lead to
toxicity in otherwise healthy individuals. However
taking vitamin supplements that contain megadoses of the vitamin may lead to toxicity. Your
doctor is a good person to review the levels of
vitamin A you require on a daily basis.
Vitamin A Intake
Since high doses of vitamin A can be toxic,
it is not recommended that we take a
vitamin A supplement. We can store
vitamin A in our liver for long periods of time,
which means that we are not at risk for
becoming deficient in vitamin A, even if we
don’t eat vitamin A rich foods for a few
days. On the other hand the transport and
utilization of vitamin A in retinoid form is
dependent upon several vitamin A binding
proteins. Because a sufficient dietary intake
of protein is required for the manufacture of
these binding proteins, inadequate protein
intake may result in vitamin A deficiency.
It is also important to note that some
people may not be well equipped to
convert carotenoid forms of vitamin A
into retinoid forms. Factors contributing
to this include a person’s inherited
genetic tendencies, digestive problems,
bacterial imbalances in the digestive
tract, excessive use of alcohol, excessive
exposure to toxic chemicals,
imbalanced intake of vitamin A and
vitamin D as a result of high-dose
supplementation and the use of certain
over-the-counter and/or prescription
medications. Caution is required if your
diet is exclusively vegetarian and you
are trying to obtain vitamin A by plant
foods alone, if your body is unable to
convert the carotenoids into the retinoid
form, which are also required for proper
physiological function.
Table values Include All Forms of Vitamin A - including
Carotenoids
Food
Calories
RDV
Sweet Potato
180
214%
Carrots
50
113%
Spinach
41
105%
Kale
36
98%
Collard Greens
63
80%
Resources
Eatrightontario.ca
Whfoods.com
Did You Know?
A recent study has
shown the ability of
beta=carotene to
improve the availability
of iron & zinc from
grains. In one lab study,
the addition of 2.5
grams of cooked carrot
(containing 200
micrograms of betacarotene to a 10 gram
portion of cooked rice
resulted in a 50%
increase in the
availability of iron from
the rice. Similarly this
same addition of
beta=carotene was
able to increase the
availability of zinc in the
cooked rice by about
35-40%
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