Food Sources for Fat Soluble Vitamins

Fat soluble vitamins are highly important for our bodies although respecting a daily dosage is not always necessary as when compared with water soluble vitamins. This is because fat soluble vitamins are stored to some extent in fatty tissues and liver. On the other hand, it is highly important to eat foods that contain Vitamins A, D, E and K. A proper understanding of what to eat is crucial in maintaining a healthy body and a good diet that encompasses everything you need.

Vitamin A is also known as retinol and has a lot of functions in our body. It helps the eyes adjust to light changes and plays a highly important role in tooth development, cell division, reproduction, bone growth and gene expression. To make it even more important, our eyes, mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, skin, throat and lungs need Vitamin A to keep moist. The best possible way to get sure we get enough vitamin A is to eat varied foods. You will find this fat soluble vitamin in various ingredients of animal origin including fish, liver and dairy products. Also, a lot of foods of plant origin contain beta-carotene. This is an antioxidant that is converted to vitamin A by our bodies. You can find it along provitamin A in vegetables and fruits including winter squash, carrots, apricots, pumpkin and dark green leafy vegetables.

Vitamin D is important for us because it has a crucial role in the body’s use of phosphorous and calcium. This is done as it increases the quantity of calcium that is absorbed in our small intestine and aids further by forming and maintaining bones. This immediately translates in a need for children to get enough amounts of vitamin D in order to have healthy teeth and strong bones due to the direct link with calcium. Vitamin D can be found mostly in milk and various dairy products that are fortified with it. Oily fish is also recommended as a food source of this fat soluble vitamin together with cod liver oil. To make it even more special, our skin aids in obtaining vitamin D as it creates it as a response to sunlight.

Vitamin E protects red blood cells, essential fatty acids and vitamins A and C from destruction by acting as an antioxidant. It was also proved that it helps prevent heart disease and cancer. There is a direct link between eating antioxidant rich vegetables and fruits and lowering heart disease, cancer and other diseases risk. Food sources for vitamin E include margarines and vegetable oils while also being present in seeds, nuts, fortified cereals, grains, vegetables and fruits.

Vitamin K is crucial in normal blood clotting while also promoting bone health. It is produced by bacteria of the intestines and you can find various food sources for it including spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, turnip greens and vegetable oils (soybean, cottonseed, olive and canola oils). Animal foods only contain a limited amount of this fat soluble vitamin.