I have had diabetes my entire life, and I am very thankful for the fact that modern medical discoveries have helped me live a happy, healthy life despite my disease. I have had to watch what I eat and take medications daily for most of my life, and while i used to feel like I was "missing out" when other children were able to eat sugary candy and I wasn't, I eventually learned that sugar-free candy tastes great. I am always keeping up on the latest diabetes research, and while researching, I have also learned about many other diseases and ailments and how they are treated and controlled. I know others are too busy to browse a bunch of medical websites, like I like to do, so I decided to start a blog that others can visit that contains information on a variety of medical topics all in one place!
Modern Medicine Saves Lives Every Day
Vitamin A and Night Vision: Recommendations and Best Sources
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If you have a hard time seeing while driving in the dark, if you start squinting after the sun goes down, or if you regularly see light halos late at night, it might have something to do with your diet. Night blindness, or poor night vision, happens naturally as you age. However, getting more vitamin A in your diet can help minimize the symptoms and delay the onset of diminished late-night vision, especially if you're deficient. Plenty of foods have the vitamin A you need, helping you to meet your daily recommendations.
Details of Vitamin A
Vitamin A isn't actually a single vitamin, rather, it's more of a descriptive term that includes several similarly-functioning types of nutrients. Beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin are just some of the components that make up vitamin A. These nutrients work together to protect and preserve the membranes that surround your eye. They also keep your retinas healthy. This directly impacts the way your eye processes light. If those membranes start breaking down and if your retinas don't function properly, your eye's ability to pull in light decreases. This is why things seem fuzzy and hard to see when it's dark outside.
How It's Measured
Because vitamin A has so many different subgroups, vitamin A has its own unique measurement: micrograms retinol activity equivalents, or mcg RAE. Retinol activity equivalents are a unit of measure that account for all of the various vitamin A subgroups and how they react in your body -- all food sources of vitamin A get turned into retinol, the usable form of vitamin A.
Your Daily Recommendation
If you are male, the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine recommends getting 900 mcg RAE of vitamin A every day. Your recommendation is just 700 mcg RAE if you are female. During childbearing years, if you are female, you'll need 770 mcg RAE per day. It nearly doubles to 1,300 mcg RAE each day if you breast-feed.
Where to Get It
- Sweet potato, baked with skin: over 1,400 mcg RAE per whole spud
- Spinach, boiled: nearly 575 mcg RAE per half cup
- Carrots, raw, sliced: about 460 mcg RAE per half cup
- Herring fish, prepared: around 220 mcg RAE per 3 ounces
- Skim milk, with added vitamin A: roughly 150 mcg RAE per 8 ounces
- Breakfast cereal, ready-to-eat: approximately 125 to 150 mcg RAE per serving of 10-percent fortified cereal
- Cantaloupe, diced: 135 mcg RAE per half cup
- Red bell peppers, julienne slices: nearly 120 mcg RAE per half cup
- Mango: over 110 mcg RAE per whole fruit
- Egg, whole, hard boiled: 75 mcg RAE per egg
- Sockeye salmon fish, cooked: almost 60 mcg RAE
If your nighttime vision is already getting bad, talk with an eye care specialist like Bucks-Mont Eye Associates about taking a vitamin A supplement. Since too much vitamin A from a combination of food and supplements -- intakes over 3,000 mcg RAE per day -- can be toxic, you want to make sure you're getting the right dosage. A supplement might not be necessary if you already get plenty of vitamin A in your diet.
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