What’s the Interrelationship between Protein Consumption and Vitamin A
May 8, 2012 at 9:26 amCategory:Eclectic Ideas
What’s the connection between protein consumption and Vitamin A? I dare you to pick up any well-known fitness mag and not see a gazillion adverts for protein in the form of whey powders or protein bars.
The truth is there are numerous advertisements in fitness periodicals for protein. Why?
Well, for starters everyone knows protein increases muscle tissue and the more protein you consume the bigger the muscle mass,right?
This is what the fitness mags want you to think. If you don’t trust me, then ask yourself this: just why do their ads always have a bigbodybuilder with a big breasted female model?
These companies know what sells and how to evoke an emotional result to make a customer buy the product. Whey protein and protein bars are also very cheap to manufacture.
Ok, so we identified you need protein to create muscles. It’s true we do need protein to make lean muscle but is there such a thing as excessive protein?
Some folks would argue there is and some would not but I’m not going to choose sides.
The question is open to doubt at this point. Whatisn’t open to doubt is the connection between protein consumption and vitamin A. Believe it or not, protein isn’t the only thing needed to build muscle, Vitamin A is important as well.
It’s rather funny how the two are more related than anyone might think.
The Marriage of Protein and Vitamin A
What is the interrelationship of protein consumption and vitamin A? To put it simply, high levels of protein exhaust vitamin A reserves in the body.
As a way for our bodies to properly make use of dietary protein, there must be an ample supply of vitamin A.
In most fitness and health advertisements, protein powders are marketed exclusively while there is little relevance given to Vitamin A.
Not only is vitamin A needed to utilize protein, it’s also utilized at a higher rate when the eating plan is high in protein and this is not good.
This is because the entire body requires this vitamin to aid in synthesizing new protein absorption. So, if you take in excess amounts of protein, your vitamin A reserves will be used up!
The Huge Deal with Vitamin A
Vitamin A is essential to testosterone production. Testosterone is the hormonal agent which helpsmake muscle mass. Try to build muscle mass without it and see what happens.
In scientific experiments done with both animals and human beings, the lack of Vitamin A showed a lowering in testosterone production.
More notably in experiments done with teenage boys, it was found that deficient vitamin a levels were enough to delay the onset of puberty and growth.
When the boys’ Vitamin A levels were increased many of them matured and had no problem undergoing puberty.
In other experiments involving Vitamin A and prostate cancer, more optimistic results were found.
Subjects who received adequate amounts of vitamin A had much lower occurrences of prostate cancer in comparison to those who were deficient.
The Balance of Protein and Vitamin A
How do you equalize the protein you devour while preserving enough vitamin A? Adopt a less is more tactic and enhance foods which provide sufficient levels of vitamin A.
These foods are:
- Liver
- Dark Leafy Greens ( Lettuce, Collards, Kale)
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Cod Liver Oil
In summary, protein is required to grow muscle, no doubt about it. But extra protein does not always equal extra muscle tissue and may diminish vitamin A. For those of you who really choose to be healthy, the protein ingestion and vitamin A connection cannot be forgotten.