Vitamin A

Vitamin A is most commonly associated with vision, and that connection is real — it’s a key component of the process that allows your eyes to adjust to low light, and night blindness is one of the earliest signs that intake is low. But vision is just one part of what it does. Vitamin A is also central to immune function, skin health, and how the body develops and maintains tissue. It’s one of those vitamins that’s working in the background across multiple systems simultaneously.

It comes from food in two forms. Animal sources — liver, eggs, dairy, fatty fish — provide preformed vitamin A, which the body can use directly. Plant sources — carrots, sweet potatoes, leafy greens, red bell peppers — provide beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A as needed. That conversion is less efficient than getting it directly from animal sources, so if your diet is entirely plant-based, it’s worth being intentional about including those sources regularly and eating them with some fat, since vitamin A is fat-soluble and absorbs significantly better that way.

For most people eating a varied diet that includes some animal foods, vitamin A deficiency isn’t a serious concern. Where it’s worth paying attention is in very restricted diets, or in people who rarely eat vegetables. On the other end, vitamin A is one of the few vitamins where taking too much through supplements over time can become a problem — it’s stored in the body rather than excreted, so high-dose supplementation isn’t something to approach casually.

Reference Card

Vitamin type: Fat-soluble Pillar: Nourish

What it does for you

Supports vision in low-light conditions
Keeps the immune system functioning properly
Maintains healthy skin and the tissues that line your respiratory and digestive systems

Where to get it

Animal sources — beef liver, eggs, dairy, salmon, mackerel
Plant sources — sweet potato, carrot, kale, spinach, red bell pepper, mango

Considerations

Eat plant sources alongside fat — absorption is significantly better with fat present in the same meal
Animal sources are more reliably absorbed than plant sources
High-dose vitamin A supplementation is one of the few micronutrient cases where too much over time causes real harm — food sources are fine for the vast majority of people

Signs your intake might be low

Difficulty seeing in dim light
Getting sick more frequently than usual
Dry or rough skin

Common myths

Eating carrots improves eyesight — adequate vitamin A maintains normal vision; it doesn’t enhance it beyond that in someone already getting enough
Plant and animal sources are equivalent — beta-carotene from plants converts to vitamin A less efficiently than preformed vitamin A from animal sources