PHYTONUTRIENTS #3: THE ORANGE GROUP-The orange-colored vegetables including carrots, squash, pumpkin, and yams or sweet potato get their orange color from beta-carotene, which is converted to vitamin A by the cells of your body. Beta-carotene is also called pro-vitamin A. Preformed vitamin A is found in meats, dairy, and other fortified foods and supplements. Vitamin A can act as a hormone (retinoic acid) to normalize (differentiate)cells but it also has an important role in vision as cis-retinal which is concentrated in the retina at the back of the eye where light hits the eye creating a visual image. A single bit of light energy called a quantum interacts with a cloud of electrons flipping the bond from cis (two carbons on the same side of the bond) to trans (two carbons on opposite sides) as shown on the slide. This one change from cis-retinal to trans-retinal results in nerve signals being sent through the optic nerve to the area in the back of the brain called the visual cortex. Your mind organizes all the signals coming in to create the images you see with your eyes in three dimensions and living color. The earliest sign of vitamin A deficiency is night blindness. More serious is a total loss of vision and blindness caused by a thickening of the normally clear tissue covering the eye called the cornea due to a loss of the other normalizing function of vitamin A. 500,000 children in developing countries suffer this form of blindness. Beta-carotene also concentrates in the skin where it can give you a healthy glow and protect your skin as an antioxidant to work as inner nutrition together with outer nutrition with vitamins A,C,E, and B3 you apply as a cream. From eyes to skin, the Orange Group is one you want every day!!!
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