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Food Sources Of Vitamin A And Provitamin A Carotenes

Several foods are rich sources of vitamin A. There are also many other foods which contain provitamin A – compounds which are converted to vitamin A in the body.

Vitamin A, a fat-soluble vitamin, is an essential nutrient which plays numerous important roles in human health. The most crucial ones include vision, proper growth and immune function.

Absorption

Numerous factors influence the body’s ability to properly absorb vitamin A, including the presence of fat, protein and antioxidants in the diet; the presence of bile; the presence of a normal set of pancreatic enzymes in the intestinal lumen; and mucosal cell integrity. Absorption efficiency of vitamin A in the diet is typically high, about 80-90%, whereas the absorption efficiency of beta-carotene is only about 40-60%.

A few factors influence the conversion of provitamin A carotenes to vitamin A, including protein status, zinc, vitamin C and thyroid hormones.

Foods rich in vitamin A

Some of the best sources of preformed vitamin A include liver, kidney, butter, whole milk, and fortified low-fat skim milk.

The body is able to convert beta-carotenes and other carotenes to vitamin A, and excellent sources of these provitamin A carotenes are dark green leafy vegetables (e.g. spinach and collards) and yellow-orange vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, yams and squash.

Some foods rich in vitamin A are listed below.

Vitamin A content
IU per 100g serving (3.5-ounce)

* Liver, beef – 43,900
* Liver, calves – 22,500
* Liver, chicken – 12,100
* Chili peppers – 21,600
* Dandelion root – 14,000
* Carrots – 11,000
* Apricots (dried) – 10,900
* Collard greens – 9,300
* Kale – 8,900
* Sweet potatoes – 8,800
* Parsley – 8,500
* Spinach – 8,100
* Mustard greens – 7,000
* Mangoes – 4,800
* Hubbard squash – 4,300
* Cantaloupe – 3,400
* Apricots – 2,700
* Broccoli – 2,500
* Nonfat milk (fortified), 1 cup – 500
* Whole milk, 1 cup – 227