Vitamin A help boost the immune and protect children from prevented disease and blindness. Two doses of vitamin A per year probably reduce death, diarrhea, and stunting.
Vitamin A supports the growth and development of children as normal. Vitamin A known as retinol or retinoic acid is a vitamin to used by the body in many essential processes.
Vitamin A is a goldmine for almost every function of the body and the same as the benefits of calcium for children. In actively looking after the body while protecting it from the source of potential damage.
1. Maintaining Bone and System
Cells of the body to build and remodel bone is supported by vitamin A. This vitamin has the same function as calcium and vitamin D for supporting children’s bones stronger and higher. Find more on the health benefits of calcium for bones.
Hair, nails, and teeth contain keratin, a substance produced by the body with the help of vitamin A. The adult’s teeth are still inside its gums. Provide them with enough vitamin A during their life to help in making strong enamel teeth.
2. Support Healthy Organ Function
The benefits of vitamin A almost for the body’s organs. It is supporting cell growth and the system needed like the heart, lungs, and kidneys to get good work.
Lacking vitamin A during preconception can cause changes in gene expression give an impact on babies. Studies show a group of vitamin A needed for the growth of a healthy heart inside the uterus. If a deficiency of vitamin A occurs, there is will be an increase in the risk of the heart growing abnormally.
It is important to the lungs’ function within isn’t too much optimal increase the risk of respiratory illness even the health condition linked to asthma.
3. Required for Eyesight
The outside covering the eyes called the cornea, needs vitamin A to keep it clear. The cornea in turbid significantly spoils eyesight. Vitamin A can help to protect humidity the eyes adequately and prevent chronic dry eyes as well as the benefits of goat milk for eyes and healthy vision.
The eyes adjust self with the condition of low light using a specific protein called rhodopsin, which helps the eyes see effectively in darkness. The body needs vitamin A to make rhodopsin. Without vitamin A, the eyes have the risk occur night blindness.
4. Fortify the Immune System
Vitamin A is an essential antioxidant. Antioxidant help to protect the body from oxidative damage. The antioxidant is good for beauty treatment. One of the health benefits of antioxidants for hair.
When pollutants of free radical cells contact the healthy cells, they steal their electrons. Unlike this, vitamin A will sacrifice itself, leaving the health system to execute it, caring for the body to keep it safe and protected.
5. Function as a Stronger Antioxidant
Provitamins A called carotenoids such as beta carotene, alpha-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin are precursor of vitamin A and has antioxidant properties.
Carotenoids protect the body from free radicals, highly reactive molecules dangerous to the body through oxidative stress. This stress oxidative linked to chronic conditions such as diabetes, cancer, heart, and a decrease in cognition.Â
6. Reproductive Health
Sufficient vitamin A in food is essential for healthy reproduction. Lacking vitamin A can cause interfertility and growth delay to developing to children.
Too much consumption of vitamin A during pregnancy leads to harm to the embryo, causes birth defects, and increases the risk of infection with diseases. Pregnant women better avoid eating food containing too much vitamin A like pate and liver as well as supplement vitamin A.
7. Reduce Diarrhoea
The link between malnutrition and diarrhea was established but still a limit in complex research to understand the mechanism among them. This is a known result that vitamin A is the key to preventing diarrhea and the child’s health overall.
To understand why it is too much give effect on this disease, one needs to understand the role of vitamin A first in the body. Cell differentiation (arrangement of new cells growth and setting up their role), managing coating an epithelial, and immune response as the main role of vitamin A to cope with diarrhea.
What is a mucous membrane and site of prevent important infections in the body? Intestines. Lacking vitamin A can give affect many kinds of systems inside the body, one of which is disturbing the intestines layer charges.
A deficiency of this can be disturbing the growth of cells normally and we can see the effect easily in the walls of the intestines because it often occurs changes in higher cells.
Not only the intestinal wall but also the immune cells need differentiation cells regularly. Without it, the immune responses sequenced standard includes a transition from its immunities to adaptative being irregular and less effective.
Many consequences of a deficiency in vitamin A collect in the intestines. This means bad news for the child’s defense against diarrhea infections.
As usual, prevention can be worse than treatment. WHO (World Health Organization) recommended supplements of vitamin A which is high in child mortality.
With increases in the immune system, vitamin A can decrease causing the dead child to be around 1/3, and in particular, impact to die of diarrhea and measles.
8. Reduce the Odds of Child Stunting
Stunting is caused by lacking intake of nutrients. A deficiency of micronutrient give an impact on growth. Stunting can be influenced by lacking vitamin A in food and it is involved in many activities physiological in the body including eyesight, differentiation cells, acquittance due to growth and development of reproduction cancer, preventing the heart, and pressing hunger.
Vitamin A has the function to protect the body from measles disease. Both this disease and vitamin A deficiency are related to each other. Supplementation of this vitamin A can help to prevent measles from being fatal.
The necessity of vitamin A will change children’s life. The body will do many things with the amount of little vitamin A, and besides measured in micrograms (one-thousandth of milligrams),
- Birth to 6 months – 400 mcg of vitamin A per day
- 7 months to 12 months – 500 mcg of vitamin A per day
- 1 year to 3 years – 300 mcg of vitamin A per day
- 4 years to 8 years – 400 mcg of vitamin A per day
- 9 years to 12 years – 600 mcg of vitamin A per day
Foods containing vitamin A
Like minerals and vitamins, the richest source of food is beef liver. Not whole children like beef liver, there are alternative sources of vitamin A for them,
- Fruit and Vegetables
Pumpkins, sweet potatoes, carrots, oranges, and butternut squash are naturally rich in vitamin A. Beta carotene has taken responsibility for the orange pigment of fruits and vegetables.
The body can change beta carotene to become vitamin A. Sweet potatoes are easier served for children. There are health benefits of sweet potatoes for kids all parents should know.
They love French fries, mashed potatoes, and even tater tots in big probably will enjoy eating sweet potatoes as substitution traditional white potatoes.
- Low Fat Dairy Food
It is not like an obligation, but many dairy farmers choose to fortify their milk. The product of milk made through fortified milk usually contains vitamin D to increase the absorb calcium and a little amount of vitamin A.
Children intolerant to lactose, children with milk allergies, and they are not the consumption of plant-based protein get calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin D from soy milk within a famous brand name.
Always check and re-check the label of nutrition to make sure the compound vitamins in soy milk are already sufficient. Don’t forget to avoid soy milk with the addition of sugar.
- Bread and Cereal Fortified
Some vitamins are hard to find in nature. That’s why there are bread, pasta, rice products, and cereals with/or without enriched. If eating bread and cereal at home, consider changing the regular brand with a version enriched.
Not all bread and cereal contain vitamin A, just make sure to always check the label. Try to avoid cereal enriched by adding sugar in amount excessive.
- Vitamin A Dessert
Vanilla ice cream, carrot cake, and pumpkin pie contain vitamin A. Considering to be served on special occasions to upgrade the nutritional value of the dessert.
Home-made pumpkin pie can be healthy addition as a dessert if needs sugar and fat used sparingly, even made from vegan and free gluten.
Vitamin A is present in the food, while encouraged by the body will absorb through the intestines and stored in the liver. The reason of causes for vitamin A are,
- Lacking Vitamin A
The human body can’t synthesize it by itself but have to provide it through food. That’s why the main deficiency of vitamin A in children is unbalanced food, lacking vitamin A and carotene (provitamin A).
Low-fat food can decrease the absorption of vitamin A in food (vitamin A is fat-soluble). In nursing babies, the main source of vitamin A is ASI (Breast Milk). During this condition, the mother’s habit of food deficiency vitamin A will impact to baby directly.
- Infectious Disease
When suffering diarrhea, respiratory infections, measles, and roundworm infections need vitamin A will increase the body to re-generation epithelium, and create antibodies against diseases, and disabilities. During prolonged illness, vitamin A in the body’s child will decrease and take additional time.
- Body doesn’t much Absorb Vitamin A
If children suffer from gastrointestinal disease specific to diarrhea, the ability to absorb nutrition including vitamin A will be greatly reduced. Otherwise, if the food contains a lot of vitamin A but lacks protein and fat, also decreases the ability to absorb vitamin A for a child.
- The amount of Reserve Vitamin A in the Body is no Longer Available
If food doesn’t provide enough vitamin A needed in the body, the body will mobilize vitamin A stored in the liver. However, when this storage can’t fulfill the body’s requirement, will occur deficiency of vitamin A. Malnutrition and infection often can cause a lack of vitamin A.
At-risk group children and mothers are better to consume supplement vitamin A in high doses to overcome dry eyes that lead blindness to in children. This is the way of giving vitamin A to children,
- For Children in 6 – 12 months, give 3 to 4 drops (a half of tablet)
- For children in 12 – 23 months, squeezing all vitamin A juice into their mouth
- For children over 24 months, just ask them to chew or swallow a capsule of vitamin A