For centuries people have been aware that food has a strong affect on human health. In fact, the Ancient People of Egypt recognized the importance of food long before there were sophisticated ways to store, process, and deliver food. The fact that food sustains us is not an overly complicated concept, it is a very basic principle of physics that is universally understood. Modern scientists have only recently been able to catch hold of this energy source at its purest form.
Food is any material consumed to give nutrition to an organism within the body. Food is generally of animal, plant or fungi origin, and contains vital nutrients, including vitamins, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, or mineral ions, which provide energy to the body. The body needs certain amount of food each day to remain healthy and to function normally. With the increase in population, the need for food is also increasing, making modern food processing techniques and methods necessary to produce high quality foods in less time and in more quantities.
Vitamin deficiency can lead to many serious diseases such as cancer, heart disease, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, blindness, skin diseases, etc. So the question we ask ourselves is what do we eat enough vitamin A to achieve a healthy and disease free life? Recent research has focused on providing adequate supplies of vitamin A to retard ageing. It has been observed that vitamin A protects the liver from alcohol abuse by inhibiting the production ofaldehyde during alcohol drinking. Also it prevents formation of certain types of carcinogens that are known to cause certain types of cancers.