I started my blog journey with a post about me. Then I posted a blog post on why we need minerals and vitamins to make energy.

This post is going to be about Vitamin A and my views on this vitamin.

Name

• Vitamin A (Retinol)

Forms

Vitamin A has three active forms inside the human body, which are collectively known as retinoids:

• Retinol: The alcohol form.
• Retinal: The aldehyde form (also called retinaldehyde.
• Retinoic Acid: The acid form.

How They Interact

• Reversible: Retinol and retinal can easily convert back and forth into one another.
• One-Way: When retinal is oxidized into retinoic acid within the liver, the truth of its destination splits into three definitive physiological realities it hits a point of no return. It can never be converted back into retinal or retinol.

Dietary Sources

Animal Sources:

Dietary Vitamin A is obtained from two completely distinct categories:

Preformed Vitamin A from animal sources and provitamin A carotenoids from plant sources.

• Organ Meats: Beef liver, lamb liver, and liver sausage are the highest concentrated sources.
• Fish Oils: Cod liver oil provides massive amounts of readily usable Vitamin A.
• Fatty Fish: Whole wild salmon, mackerel, herring, and tuna.
• Dairy Products: Whole milk, heavy cream, butter, ghee, and cheeses like cheddar or feta.
• Eggs: Specifically the egg yolk, which contains the fat-soluble nutrient stash. 

Plant-Based Sources (Provitamin A (Carotenoids):

Plant foods do not contain active Vitamin A. Instead, they provide pigments like beta-carotene, which your small intestine must enzymatically break down and convert into retinol. This process is highly dependent on dietary fat for proper absorption. 

• Orange Root Vegetables: Carrots, sweet potatoes, and yams.
• Winter Squashes: Pumpkin, butternut squash, and acorn squash.
• Dark Leafy Greens: Spinach, kale, broccoli, collard greens, and turnip greens.
• Bright Fruits: Mangoes, cantaloupe melon, papayas, and dried apricots. 

Intracellular or extracellular

Vitamin A exists and functions in both environments, but its primary biological actions and storage take place intracellularly (inside the cell). 

Because Vitamin A is a fat-soluble (lipophilic) compound, it cannot mix freely with water. The body uses specialized carrier proteins to shield it whether it is traveling outside or working inside a cell. 

• Blood Circulation: It travels through the blood plasma bound to an extracellular transport protein called Retinol-Binding Protein 4 (RBP4). 
• Digestion: Before absorption, dietary Vitamin A moves through the extracellular fluid of your intestines packed inside micelles (fat droplets). 

The Intracellular Environment (Inside the Cell)

Once Vitamin A reaches a target tissue, it enters the cell via a membrane receptor (like STRA6). This is where the vitamin does its most important work: 

• Storage: Cells keep an intracellular reserve of Vitamin A bound as retinyl esters. 
• Chaperone Protection: Inside the cell, it is handled by Cellular Retinol-Binding Proteins (CRBP) and Cellular Retinoic Acid-Binding Proteins (CRABP). These chaperones prevent the raw vitamin from damaging cell structures. 
• DNA Activation: Active Vitamin A (retinoic acid) moves all the way into the cell nucleus. There, it binds directly to nuclear receptors to alter gene transcription and control cell behavior. 

The Structural Influence on the Extracellular Matrix:

While Vitamin A acts intracellularly, it strongly dictates what happens extracellularly. Inside the cell nucleus, Vitamin A triggers genes that produce collagens, elastin, and fibronectin. These materials are then pushed outside the cell to construct the Extracellular Matrix (ECM), which holds your organs and skin tissues together. 

Liver Storage

• Vitamin A is stored in the liver for up to 4 years. The storage mechanism for retinol is extremely efficient, storing over 70% of the body’s total vitamin A reserves, which provides a long-lasting supply. The liver stores are so robust that even if no vitamin A is consumed for months, the body can maintain sufficient levels to avoid deficiency symptoms, functioning as an “economic” system of depositing and withdrawing vitamins and minerals as necessary. 
• Retinol: When retinol enters the liver, it is often esterified (converted to retinyl palmitate) for storage. However, if needed immediately, it can be directly transported using retinol-binding protein.
• Retinyl Palmitate: This is a storage form of vitamin A. To be used by the body, it must first be hydrolyzed (broken down) into retinol, then converted to retinal, and finally to retinoic acid (the active form).
• Retinyl Palmitate: This is actually the primary form in which vitamin A is stored in the liver’s stellate cells. When you ingest retinyl palmitate, the body often converts it into this storage form, and then it must be converted back to retinol to be released into the blood.

Transport Protein

• Vitamin A needs a transport protein made in the liver to be released into the blood. The primary transport protein for Vitamin A in human plasma is Retinol-Binding Protein (often abbreviated as RBP or RBP4).

pH levels

• Vitamin A (specifically retinol and retinyl esters) is generally stable in the body at physiological pH levels, which typically is around neutral to slightly acidic (pH 5,0 -7,0. Some forms of Vitamin A, such as retinoic acid, are acidic (with a pH around 4.76), the nutrient in the body functions optimally at normal bodily pH, but its stability is sensitive to acidic environments below pH 5.0.

Absorption

• Vitamin A requires dietary fat to be properly absorbed in the small intestine. Without fat, the body cannot efficiently utilize Vitamin A.

Bile Acid

• Vitamin A and bile acid is closely linked through a symbiotic relationship, where bile acids enable intestinal absorption of vitamin A, while retinol metabolites regulate bile acid synthesis and homeostasis in the liver.

Cerebrospinal Fluid

• Retinol (vitamin A) is present in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). It is carried into the fluid by retinol-binding protein (RBP) and can be converted into retinoic acid, which plays an important role in neurogenesis and brain development.

Ferroxidase enzyme

Vitamin A (specifically in the form of retinoid acid) is crucial for regulating and stimulating the synthesis of Ceruloplasmin in the liver. Retinoids increase ceruloplasmin expression, while a deficiency in vitamin A can depress its production and secretion, reducing copper transport capability.
Ceruloplasmin is a copper carrying protein produced in the liver that transports over 95% of copper in human blood plasma. As the main copper-binding protein, it acts as a ferroxidase enzyme, playing a crucial role in iron metabolism and acting as an antioxidant.

How Vitamin A and Transferrin Interact

• Regulating Iron Release: Vitamin A is necessary to mobilize iron from your liver and other storage sites so it can be loaded onto transferrin and delivered where it needs to go.
• Managing Transferrin Receptors: Vitamin A (specifically retinoic acid) regulates the cellular expression of transferrin receptors. These receptors sit on the surface of cells (like those in the bone marrow) and grab the transferrin to pull vital iron inside.
• Preventing “Trapped” Iron: During infections or inflammation, your body reduces the synthesis of transferrin and its carrier proteins to hide iron from pathogens. Vitamin A helps suppress these infections and inflammation, allowing your body to resume normal transferrin production and safely circulate iron again.
• Transferrin: Shuttles iron from absorption sites in the intestines and from storage sites directly to the bone marrow (to make red blood cells), liver, and muscles.
• Vitamin A (Retinol) is important for Ceruloplasmin, Hephahestin and Zyklopen which is a multi copper ferroxidases (MCFs) that play a critical, specialized roles in iron homeostisis by converting toxic ferrous iron (Fe2+) into ferric iron (Fe+3), which can be bound by transferrin. They work in conjunction with the membrane iron exporter ferroportin to facilitate iron release from cells. If you lack sufficient vitamin A, the communication network between iron stores and transferrin breaks down. Iron becomes trapped in your liver, spleen, and bone marrow, leading to lower transferrin saturation (how much iron is actually being carried). This ultimately results in an impaired ability to produce red blood cells.

I am linking Transferrin to the vitamins and minerals because stored iron and copper has saved my life as I am going to show in MY LIFE and Copper And Iron posts next year.

I’ve emptied my iron and copper stores through blood letting 60 Liters of blood through a period of 7 years. The equivalent of draining my entire body’s blood volume more than 12 times over.

Transferrin is a blood marker every health practitioner should look into when interpreting iron and copper metabolism because Ferritin, Serum Iron an Copper stores does not relieve how much that is stored in the liver and spleen and elsewhere.

Zinc deficiency is thought to interfere with vitamin A metabolism in several ways. Zinc deficiency results in decreased synthesis of retinol-binding protein (RBP), which transports retinol through the circulation to peripheral tissues and protects the organism against potential toxicity of retinol. Zinc deficiency results in decreased activity of the enzyme that releases retinol from its storage form, retinyl palmitate, in the liver. Zinc is required for the enzyme that converts retinol into retinal.

Vitamin A refers to a group of compounds as mentioned above, including retinol, retinal, and retinoic acid. Retinol is the specific, active form found in animal-based foods and many skincare products.

Retinyl palmitate and retinol are both derivatives of vitamin A (retinoids) but retinyl palmitate is a gentler, more stable, and less potent form compared to pure retinol.

While both eventually convert into the active skin-transforming molecule retinoid acid, retinyl palmitate requires more conversion steps.

• Retinol requires two steps (Retinol → Retinal → Retinoic Acid).
• Retinyl palmitate requires three steps because it must first converted into retinol.

It is considered harder (or more accurately, less direct and requiring more metabolic steps) for the body to convert retinyl palmitate into the active form of vitamin A compared to retinol. 

Retinyl palmitate is a preformed vitamin A ester, while retinol is the alcohol form. Because retinyl palmitate is an ester, the body must break it down before it can be used, whereas retinol is closer to the active form.

The Conversion Process

Potency and Speed

• Because of the extra conversion step required, retinyl palmitate is less potent and works more gradually than retinol.
• In skincare (where this conversion is heavily studied), retinyl palmitate requires three steps to become active retinoic acid, whereas retinol requires two, and retinaldehyde requires only one. 

If you use a supplement for vitamin A keep in mind that your liver needs to work harder in the conversion process compared to eating food high in retinol. In my opinion we should get most of the minerals and vitamins a human body need through food, but some minerals and vitamins are needed in higher amounts today to keep up with what a body needs to become healthy.

If you are reading an article over the symptoms of Vitamin A deficiency and recognize them in yourself don’t trust what is written.

Throughout 10 years of experience with successes and doing huge mistakes I’ve ended up with as I wrote in an earlier post:

• Magnesium Malate (alternating)
• Magnesium Glycinate (alternating)
• Liquid Magnesium types
• Potassium Gluconate
• Zink now and then
• Rositas Extra Virgin Cod Liver Oil and Ratfish Oil that contains all the fat soluble vitamins

I only eat homemade food with meat, chicken, fish and some vegetables. My body is not fond of pasta or wheat in huge amounts, but I eat some to give my body enough energy so it can heal. Because everything is about the energy that I can make now, and not the Cerebellum.

Is vitamin A (Retinol) important to us?

Yes it is. Very important.

• Retinol is important for copper and iron metabolism.
• Retinol is important in liver health.
• Retinol is important for adrenal health.
• Vitamins are important to keep us healthy. Minerals the same. Without enough vitamins and minerals we will become sick.
• The Cerebellum will create symptoms in the beginning and eventually this will become a disease because there is a weakness in our energies.

What has been the most important thing that I’ve done throughout these past 5 years? Eat food and especially boiled eggs. At the most I ate 5 eggs daily, and it was something that literally has saved me because eggs are having everything that a human needs.

Eggs are widely considered one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet, providing high-quality protein, essential healthy fats, and nearly all necessary vitamins and minerals—particularly vitamin D, B12, and cholin.

While they are highly nutritious, health experts generally recommend them as part of a balanced diet rather than the sole “most” nutritious food. I disagree with this statement because eggs has most of the minerals and vitamins a human need.

Eggs are high in cholesterol, but did you know? Cholesterol gives rigidity to our cells. That it is a precursor to hormones that helps us deal with stress, sex hormones (like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone) and vitamin D. Cholesterol is also a powerful antioxidant.

High blood cholesterol levels may indicate that the body is merely in need of cholesterol to protect itself. Protect from what you might wonder? Well antioxidants form free radicals and the damage they cause.

Eggs are in my opinion a food that everyone is sick should eat. It contains everything a human need as mentioned above. Minerals and fat soluble vitamins especially that is lowering stress within us. Why? Because it isn’t easy for a Cerebellum to move energy in fat because the energies within us are lowered. I was very weak at my weakest. I just did not know or understand how weak I really was, because Cerebellum took control over everything that I was.

Retinol deficiency can also lead to mild cholestasis (impaired bile flow) and may aggravate liver damage, making retinol crucial for maintaining normal bile homeostasis.

Research shows that retinoic acid in the brain can modulate whole-body retinoid balance and influence liver metabolism. Conversely, impaired liver function (cholestasis) can lead to reduced Vitamin A absorption, impacting brain retinoid levels.

When did we stop trusting this “economic” system that ALL of us have within us?

When money became more important to those who sell drugs, or when we stopped trusting ourselves and touching ourselves so we could heal ourselves?

We live longer than before, but are we more happy than before?

Are we more healthy than before?

This is a picture from the 1970’s. People are not overweight. They have no cell phones, and they are visiting the beach talking with each other. Did they eat any different than us?

Yes they did. I was born in 1966. I remember that I ate no ultraprocessed foods. I ate a liver casserole with bacon and cream weekly. I also ate food made from a pigs head every Christmas and ALL the food I ate was made from scratch. My grandmother and grandfather also grew vegetables in their garden that they stored in a cold dark basement through winter, so we had fresh vegetables all the time. I also ate chicken coop made from scratch and we stored a “fenalår” that we salted ourselves that was ate during Christmas.

What we eat has changed, but have a human changed during all these years?

No we haven’t. We are still born in the same way as the beginning of time. Our brain is a little bigger since we

Included Meat and Marrow in our diet (Approx. 2.6 Million Years Ago) 

The genus Homo (our direct ancestors) began incorporating significant amounts of animal protein, which is believed to have fueled the evolution of larger brains.

The Cerebellum was within us then too sensing the energies within us. I believe that we need fats in our diets. Ancestral food.

This is the reason why I am starting with the vitamins, because they are all so important for the minerals.

My next blog post is coming out on August 15th. and is going to be about:

Why I recommend Rositas Extra Virgin Cod Liver Oil.