Molecular Action of Vitamin A

Vitamin A is an essential vitamin for growth, vision, and reproductive health, cellular differentiation and hence is an important vitamin. George Wald won the 1967 Nobel Prize in physiology or Medicine for his work with retina pigments (also called visual pigments), which led to the understanding of the role of vitamin A in vision. Preformed vitamin A, is the result of enzymic action on certain precursor compounds within the bodies of most vertebrate animals. These precursors of vitamin A comprise of quite a small proportion of a large group of compounds known as carotenoids.