The Essential Vitamin A

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on nutritional needs and deficiencies that you might wish make sure you have covered in your food storage supplies and plans.  No medication or supplement, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.


Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin essential for proper vision and strong immune system, among other things.  It is found in meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, and vegetables.  

Vitamin A deficiency, like most vitamin deficiencies, is common in poorer countries, especially western Africa and southeast Asia.  It is rare in developed countries, because we are blessed with food manufacturers adding essential vitamins to their products.  But what happens when people don't have access to those foods anymore?  Any guesses?

Because vitamin A is fat-soluble and thus able to be stored in the body, it usually takes a while, even up to a year if the individual enjoyed a particularly healthy diet, for deficiency to develop. 

The classic sign of vitamin A deficiency that most are familiar with is, of course, night blindness.  If we or members of our family become so deficient in vitamin A that night blindness develops, we've got a big problem.  Severe vitamin A deficiency affects up to a third of the children in the world.  That's a lot of kids.  It is the leading cause of preventable childhood blindness, and half of children who go blind for this reason die within one year.  Vitamin A deficiency is high among pregnant women in poorer countries and is a significant cause of maternal death and problems in pregnancy, gestation, and lactation.

While some symptoms of vitamin A deficiency can be reversed with the addition of vitamin A to the diet, most of the time it's not as simple as eating a carrot.  And sub-clinical deficiencies (before night blindness develops) are especially detrimental in children.  A deficiency in vitamin A decreases the body's resistance to and ability to fight respiratory and diarrheal infections and increases susceptibility to other diseases, particularly measles.  It diminishes the growth rate, retards bone development, and increases the mortality rate and ability to survive illnesses. 

Unfortunately, night blindness isn't a sure sign for diagnosing vitamin A deficiency.  A person may be severely deficient in vitamin A without experiencing night blindness.  Bitot's spots are keratin spots that appear superficially in the eye, usually between pupil and corners of eye, and are oval, triangular, or irregular in shape.  They are kind of foamy-looking and white to yellowish in color.   These spots don't always resolve with treatment and may become permanent.  These spots are peculiar to vitamin A deficiency and are not seen in any other disease or condition.  They can appear in the absence of night blindness, or before or after.  They are evidence of a severe vitamin A deficiency, but because they don't necessarily resolve with treatment, they are not necessarily evidence of a current deficiency.

Other symptoms of vitamin A deficiency include dry skin, dry eyes and inability to produce tears, infertility, poor wound healing, and acne (often treated with high doses of vitamin A--remember Accutane?).

In addition to pregnant and lactating women, infants, and children, others at risk for vitamin A deficiency include alcoholics, people with giardiasis, celiac disease, duodenal bypasses, cystic fibrosis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and cirrhosis.  Iron and zinc deficiencies as well as not eating enough vegetables high in beta carotene also contribute to vitamin A deficiency. 

Historically, vitamin A deficiency was treated with animal livers, which, shocker, are very high in vitamin A.  From a preparedness standpoint, we need to know which foods are highest in vitamin A content and be sure to consume them regularly and perhaps tank up on the super-vitamin-A-rich foods seasonally.  Beef and lamb livers are particularly high in vitamin A, as is cod liver oil (yum).  Fish, especially mackerel, tuna, salmon, and trout, are good sources, as are butter, cheese, and eggs.  And these sources are particularly good because animal sources also have at least a little bit of fat with them, which is necessary for the body to be able to assimilate vitamin A, and because all people can assimilate them.

Studies have shown that up to 45% of people are carriers of a gene that significantly reduces their ability to convert pro-vitamin A (which is what vegetables have) into a form that the body can use.  If you have this gene (good luck figuring that out post-apocalypse), you really need to have your animal-based sources of vitamin A in place.  Vegetables such as sweet potatoes, winter squash, and kale provide your daily requirements in a single one-cup serving.  Collards, turnip greens, carrots, and sweet peppers are also high in vitamin A.  However, keep in mind that in order to make these available to the body, at least a little bit of fat needs to be consumed at the same time.

What if the situation has really deteriorated and for whatever reason your regular sources of vitamin A are not available?  Look for dandelions.  You can blow on them and make a wish for some vitamin A to appear before your very eyes, and then you can look down and see the dandelion leaves and eat them.  One cup of chopped dandelion leaves provides 112% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A.  Impressive, huh?

One possible option if you are concerned about your plant or animal sources of vitamin A is to supplement with 25000 IU of beta carotene (or mixed carotenoids) every day for a month.  You'll then be set for six months.  (Not for use by pregnant women--too much at once risks miscarriage and birth defects.)

Links to related posts:
Dietary Deficiency and Consequences--Vitamin B1
                                                                Vitamin B2
                                                                Vitamin B3
                                                                Vitamin B5, B6, B7
                                                                Vitamin B9
                                                                Vitamin B12
                                                                Vitamin C  
                                                                Vitamin D
                                                                Calcium  
                                                                Iodine  
                                                                Iron
                                                                Magnesium
                                                                Potassium  
                                                                Zinc
For further reading:
https://healthifybody.com/bitots-spots.html  (accessed on 27 December 2018)
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/ (accessed on 27 December 2018)
https://patient.info/doctor/Vitamin-A-Deficiency (accessed on 27 December 2018)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3936686/ (accessed on 27 December 2018)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22113863 (accessed on 27 December 2018)

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2 january 2019