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The Best Food Sources of Vitamin A (Retinol, Not Beta Carotene)

preconception retinol vitamin a

Sending you off into the weekend with some food ideas! You'll want to save this post. :)
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I talk a lot about Vitamin A, which is critical for:
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〰️Making energy
〰️Genetic processes and cellular differentiation (hello mamas!)
〰️Im^^une function (even more so than 〰️Hormone-D, people)
〰️Bone health
〰️Vision and eye health
〰️Thyroid function
〰️Tissue growth and healing
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Now, there’s a lot of confusion when it comes to what qualifies as REAL Vitamin A.
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Provitamin A is found in beta carotene. Humans are pretty terrible at converting this to Vitamin A. In fact, it takes a whopping 12 units of beta carotene to yield 1 unit of retinol. And many of us have a gene that makes this conversion process very inefficient. To add insult to injury, the more beta carotene you eat, the less you convert to Vitamin A.
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“People with diabetes, low thyroid activity, and who use a lot of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) without antioxidants such as vitamin E have lowered ability to convert beta-carotene to A.” - Staying Healthy with Nutrition
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Most of us are just not metabolically sound enough to get what we need from beta carotene, which is also 28X less potent than retinol.
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Preformed Vitamin A is found in retinol-rich foods. Sorry to break it to you, but retinol is only found in animal foods. The foods that contain the most retinol include:
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〰️Liver (beef, lamb, chicken, etc)
〰️Full-fat dairy products (cheeses, milk, yogurt, etc)
〰️Eggs
〰️Fatty fish (mackerel, salmon, tuna, etc)
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Vitamin A is probably the SINGLE most important nutrient for proper growth and development. So if you’re TTC, you have some new foods to try and incorporate into your diet.
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Want to learn more? I talk about this in my eCourse, Conscious Conception. Join today!
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Not medical advice.

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This is not medical advice. Always consult your healthcare professional before pursuing any changes to your personal healthcare regime.

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References

Arnarson, A. (2017). 20 Foods That Are High in Vitamin A. Retrieved from: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-in-vitamin-a.

Fallon, S. Cowan, T.S. (2013, 2015). The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby and Child Care. Washington, D.C.: NewTrends Publishing.

Haas, E. M. Levin, B. (2006). Staying Healthy with Nutrition. New York, NY: Ten Speed Press.

Nichols, L. (2018). Real Food for Pregnancy. United States.

Robbins, M. (2018). Toxicity Post #69: Retinol-A is an absolute requirement for building blood and especially hemoglobin. Retrieved from: https://therootcauseprotocol.com/toxicity-post-69-the-iron-y-of-retinol/.

Wise Traditions. (2020). Vitamin A-mazing. Retrieved from: https://www.westonaprice.org/podcast/233-vitamin-a-mazing/.

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Remember: this post is for informational purposes only and may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as medical advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis. Always check with your own physician or medical professional before trying or implementing any information read here. While the owner of this website tries to keep the information up to date, there may be things that are out-of-date and out of their control.