People take Vitamin A to support healthy vision, skin, and maintain a healthy immune system.** The term Vitamin A actually refers to a broad group of important compounds. As with most vitamins, Vitamin A cannot be made directly by the body – it can be obtained only through food and supplements. There are two main forms of Vitamin A which are referred to as preformed retinoids and pro-vitamin carotenoids. Preformed retinoids come to us from animals. These retinoids are called preformed because we take them in “ready to go” - we don’t have to manufacture the Vitamin A ourselves. Pro-vitamin carotenoids come to us from plants – although plants do not provide Vitamin A directly. Instead, they contain pro-vitamin A carotenoids which are then transformed into Vitamin A.