Vitamin A - The Night Sight Vitamin

As long ago as 300 B.C., the Hippocratic School of Medicine recommended liver (rich in vitamin A) for children with night blindness or infections. Vitamin A was the first vitamin discovered. In 1907, the fat-soluble vitamin Awas found necessary for growth. In 1930 it was learned that there were two related forms—beta-carotene and a fat-soluble Vitamin A. Vitamin A was first synthesized in 1947. Most of the vitamin A in the body is stored in the liver in the form of retinyl palmitate.

The Forms of Vitamin A
Vitamin A is a family of compounds with similar structures called retinoids. In plant-based foods, vitamin A is found in the form of provitamin A, principally beta-carotene. These plant-based carotenes are known as provitamin A because some of them can be sliced apart to become the other forms of vitamin A. Foods derived from animals or animal products contain a different form of vitamin A called retinyl esters. The retinyl esters can also be converted to the other forms of vitamin A in the body.