Vitamin A

Orange is definitely your color! Crunch on vitamin A-rich carrots for healthy vision, skin and more!

Nobody looks good in night goggles. But thanks to vitamin A, you can tiptoe to the kitchen for that midnight snack without having to strap them on.** This fat-soluble nutrient, also called retinol, produces pigments in your retinas (the light-sensitive layer at the back of your eyes) and plays an important part in supporting healthy vision, especially in low light.

While raiding the fridge at odd hours, fill up on this vitamin by eating carrots and other orange/yellow fruits and veggies such as cantaloupe, apricots, sweet potatoes or winter squash. These brightly colored foods are rich in beta-carotene, a plant pigment that’s converted into vitamin A in the body. You can also get it by directly by eating animal foods such as meat, eggs, cheese and milk.

Like many other essential nutrients, this vitamin is a multi-tasker. Besides fine tuning vision, vitamin A is a trusted friend to trillions of cells in your body, helping them develop properly and reproduce normally. It also fills in as a bodyguard, beating off membrane- and DNA-bashing free radicals that threaten their well-being.

If you’re thinking about taking a vitamin A supplement, remember: it’s a fat-soluble nutrient, which means your body stores it for future use. Too much of this vitamin (in its active form) can make you sick. But, eat all the carrots you want-beta carotene is OK in high doses (although it is known to turn skin orange!).