Posts Tagged ‘Vitamin A’
It was the first fat-soluble vitamin discovered. Two groups of researchers made the discovery almost simultaneously in 1913. They found that young animals fed diets without natural fats showed general disorders and did not grow. They also observed that showed inflammation and infection of the eyes, symptoms that could be quickly alleviated by adding natural fat diet, butter or cod liver oil.
Plants do not contain vitamin A in active form, but in the form of precursors thereof as carotenoids (yellow pigments found associated with the chlorophyll and responsible highly colored red and yellow legume): alpha, beta and gamma. In birds the beta-carotene is the most active of all.
The carotenes are considered pro-vitamins. Animals can not synthesize, but it may take to form. active (vitamin A) in the intestine and liver. Approximately 90% of vitamin A in the body is stored in the liver. These reserves can be exploited in any state of emergency, when through the diet does not bring enough. Read the rest of this entry »