Vitamin A is generally associated with low-light vision and color vision. Salk Institute researchers also found that Vitamin A is essential to learning and memory. When researchers removed Vitamin A from mice’s diets, they found that the mice experienced “diminished chemical changes in the brain considered the hallmarks of learning and memory” (Salk Institute). When researchers added Vitamin A back to the mice’s diets, the mice’s cognitive impairment was reversed.
On researcher, Sharoni Jacobs, stated, “These data indicate that vitamin A is necessary for optimal function in the hippocampus, which we know to be a main seat of learning.”
Another researchers, Ronald M. Evans, added, “The study indicates that the detrimental effects of vitamin A deprivation are remarkably reversible, which offers hope to the millions of children worldwide with vitamin A-deficient diets.”
Genetically identical litter mates were given either normal diets or ones lacking Vitamin A. Researchers evaluated the hippocampus regions of the brains for long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) in both groups of mice. Both LTP and LTD have long been correlated with learning ability. LTP is a long-lasting enhancement in signal transmission between two neurons that results from stimulating these neurons synchronously.
| Vitamin A Rich Foods List | Micrograms (mcg) | Portion |
| Liver (pigs stewed) | 23000 | 100g (3.5oz) |
| Cod liver oil | 18000 | 100g |
| Liver Pate | 7000 | 100g |
| Liver Sausage | 2600 | 100g |
| Butter (fortified with A) | 800 | 100g |
| Margarine (fortified with A) | 750 | 100g |
| Ghee | 700 | 100g |
| Faggots | 450 | 100g |
| Cheese (hard) | 330 | 100g |
| Fresh creams (pasteurised) | > 200 | 100g |
| Eggs | 200 | 100g |
| VEGETABLE SOURCES AS CAROTENE ** | mcg | |
| Carrots (raw) | 8000 | 100g |
| Sweet potato | 4000 | 100g |
| Capsicum pepper (red) | 3800 | 100g |
| Spinach | 3500 | 100g |
| Curly Kale (boiled) | 3200 | 100g |
| Watercress (too little portion size!) | 2500 | 100g |
| Mangoes | 1400 | 100g |
| Apricots | 1200 | 100g |
| Herbs & Spices High Vitamin A Sources but very low portion size! | mcg | per gram |
| Paprika | 360 | 1g |
| Chili powder | 210 | 1g |
** Carotene – not as rich as Retinol as a source of vitamin A.
Jacobs reported, “At 15 weeks of age, the responses of vitamin A-deprived mice are reduced to about 50 percent normal. At longer time points, LTP is stable at 50 percent, but LTD drops to almost undetectable levels.”
After restoring Vitamin A to the deficient mice’s diets for as little as two days, these mice’s brain responses returned to normal levels, as demonstrated by the mice receiving Vitamin A.
The mice also exhibited normal function when isolated areas of hippocampus tissue from the Vitamin A deficient mice’s brains were bathed in Vitamin A, “indicating that the nutrient functions in the hippocampus directly, not in other parts of the brain that might influence the important learning region.”
Experiencing Vitamin A deficiency impairs individuals’ ability to learn and retain information. This study overturned a previous study, which found that “mice born without receptors for vitamin A in the hippocampus lacked LTP ability and performed under par in standardized learning tests. Receptors are molecules within brain cells that detect and respond to the vitamin.” The previous study failed to answer the question of whether or not Vitamin A activity was necessary during embryonic development; the current study proves that removing Vitamin A even from “fully-developed animals impairs learning pathways, and equally important, the effects are reversible.”
Brainjogging works because it activates various brain regions and neurons synchronously. Vitamin A is essential to activating neurons synchronously. Brainjogging trains the brain to activate neurons synchronously. Brainjogging can activate these neurons synchronously even in Vitamin A deficient individuals, but Vitamin A better facilitates individuals’ ability to synchronize neural communication. Vitamin A deficiency’s effects can be reversed. Brainjogging encourages individuals to eat foods rich in Vitamin A to enhance one’s LTP and reduce one’s LTD.