Vitamin A is not one thing

nutrition

1 min read

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Preformed vitamin A (retinoids) — found in animal products. retinal, retinoic acid. Your body uses these directly, no conversion needed.

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Provitamin A — found in plants. Beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin. These are precursors — your body converts them into as needed, and critically, only converts what it needs. Built-in regulation.

Orange, red, dark green, yellow — each pigment is essentially a different a slightly different form of provitamin A with subtly different conversion rates and tissue affinities.