NUTR 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Retinol, Competitive Swimwear, Nyctalopia
27 May 2016
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Document Summary
Retinol, retinal and retanoic acid are all vitamin a. Vitamin a plays a key role in night vision, cell differentiation and growth regulation. Vitamin a is found preformed from animal products or supplements, or in precursor form, from plant foods. Preformed vitamin a compounds are known as retinoid. Plants contain precursors to vitamin a known as carotenoids. Is a precursor: our body can convert it to vitamin a. What does vitamin a do: needed for cell differentiation. Young cells are undifferentiated they could become several different types of cells. Stem cell can become any type of cell. Vitamin a makes sure this happens properly: needed for maintenance of epithelial tissue. Epithelial tissues are the tissues that are on the surface of the body skin, linings of the eyes, digestive tract, lungs etc. Vitamin a ensures that epithelial cells differentiate properly: needed for the immune system. To make healthy skin cells, healthy cell membranes.
