What are the food sources of vitamin A

Retinol or preformed vitamin A is found in sources of animal origin while carotenoid or provitamin A is found in fruits and vegetables. Our body can transform some members of the carotenoid family like alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and gamma-carotene into vitamin A. These carotenoids are sometimes referred as “provitamin A” and retinol as “preformed vitamin A.”

Animal sources of vitamin A are liver, milk, cream, cheese, eggs, meat, kidney and cod fish oil. Though these resources are rich in vitamin A, except skimmed milk the other sources are high in cholestrol and saturated fats.

Retinol, which is an active kind of vitamin A, is found in whole milk, animal liver and certain fortified foods.

Sources of beta-carotene are carrots, sweet potatoes pumpkin, winter squashes, pink grapefruit, cantaloupe apricots, spinach, broccoli and almost all dark green, leafy vegetables. The beta carotene content increases with respect to the intensity of the color of a vegetable or a fruit. All these vegetable sources are free from cholesterol and fat.