Good advice by Dr. Harold – Vegans are disadvantaged – Vitamin A deficiency

Vitamin A is essential to promote your immune system, bone growth, health and well-being, maintain a moist skin, assist in growth and many other metabolic functions including night driving.

Deficiency of vitamin A can result in dry skin, dry eyes, infertility and trouble conceiving, delayed growth, frequent throat infections, poor wound healing and acne breakouts

Vegans should look out for these symptoms.

Animal foods and products, including eggs have vitamin A as ‘Retinol’. Retin A (retinoic acid) cream is derived from retinol used as a mild peeler on your face and promoted as an ‘anti-aging skin cream’.

Most plant foods do not seem to contain fat soluble vitamin A known as retinol, instead exists as a pre-cursor called beta-carotene mostly found in vegies.

Retinol (vitamin A) from animal foods are absorbed readily in the gut, but vitamin A derived from plant-based beta-carotene is more limited, meaning you lose Vitamin A in the process of converting beta-carotene to retinol.

Beta-carotene

The richest sources of beta-carotene are yellow, orange, and green leafy fruits and vegetables (such as carrots, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cantaloupe, and winter squash). In general, the more intense the colour of the fruit or vegetable, the more beta-carotene it has.

In our intestines beta-carotene is converted into vitamin A by an enzyme.

Vegans may lack the enzymes that play an important role in helping to produce vitamin A from plant-based foods.

Furthermore, our genes (beta-carotene gene-BCO1) also play an important role in helping to produce the enzyme that converts beta-carotene into vitamin A.

Animal foods, by contrast supply vitamin A in the form of retinyl palmitate which is converted to retinol in the small gut, which doesn’t require any gut enzymes for the conversion.

The other source of vitamin A is from antioxidants known as ‘carotenoids’

Beta-carotene mentioned earlier as found in yams and carrots are derived from this antioxidant carotenoids

The bad news is that certain gene mutations can stop enzyme activity and prevent beta-carotene being converted to retinol. The enzyme that does this conversion is-15,15′-monoxygenase (BCMO1)—

There could be several gene mutations that can prevent conversion of beta-carotene to retinol. A host of non-genetic factors can lower beta-carotene conversion in the gut to retinols leading to vitamin A deficiency.

Further, the lack of this conversion can affect thyroid function, alcoholism, liver disease and zinc deficiency.
In the Western world, 70 percent of the vitamin A is provided from animal foods and only about 30 percent from carotenoids.

Foods that are particularly high in vitamin A include: carrots, sweet potatoes. winter squash. cantaloupe. apricots. spinach, kale, and collard greens.
Eating these veggies will prevent vitamin A deficiency among Vegans.

Vegans need to be aware of vitamin A deficiency and for peace of mind the blood levels should be checked by the pathology labs. Meanwhile those vegans who don’t lack the enzyme BCMO1 can produce enough vitamin A from plant foods to stay healthy.
Ref: Echo Watch article By Denise Minger