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Nutrients
Volume 17
Issue 14
10.3390/nu17142317
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Review

Vitamin A5: Evidence, Definitions, Gaps, and Future Directions

by
Torsten Bohn
1,
Sascha Rohn
2,
Volker Böhm
3,
Marta Despotovic
4,
Angel R. de Lera
5,
Wojciech Krezel
6,
Omer Kucuk
7,
Diána Bánáti
8 and
Ralph Rühl
9,*
1
Nutrition and Health Research Group, Department of Precision Health, Luxembourg Institute of Health, 1 AB, rue Thomas Edison, 1445 Strassen, Luxembourg
2
Department of Food Chemistry and Analytics, Institute of Food Technology and Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Berlin, 13355 Berlin, Germany
3
Institute of Nutritional Sciences, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
4
Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, Institute for Medical Research, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
5
Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultade de Química, CINBIO and IBIV, Universidade de Vigo, Campus As Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain
6
Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC), Inserm U1258, CNRS UMR 7104, Université de Strasbourg, 67400 Illkirch, France
7
Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
8
Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Szeged, H-6725 Szeged, Hungary
9
CISCAREX UG, 13351 Berlin, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Nutrients 2025, 17(14), 2317; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17142317 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 5 June 2025 / Revised: 24 June 2025 / Accepted: 26 June 2025 / Published: 14 July 2025
(This article belongs to the Section Micronutrients and Human Health)
Versions Notes

Abstract

With the emergence of a new vitamin concept—vitamin A5—it is essential to first clarify the basic definition of vitamins, particularly vitamin A. This article summarizes the foundational concepts and definitions of vitamins with particular relevance to the discovery, establishment, and categorization of new vitamin concepts. Vitamin A5 was discovered 80 years after the last vitamin was identified. It serves as an umbrella term for the dietary precursors 9-cis-β,β-carotene and 9-cis-13,14-dihydroretinol for the endogenous activator of the nuclear hormone receptor RXR, 9-cis-13,14-dihydroretinoic acid. However, several questions arise: Which criteria are typically used to identify a substance as a vitamin? How does vitamin A5 fit into the sometimes misleading definition of vitamin A? This review summarizes key findings and provides a comprehensive assessment of the current understanding, concluding that (a) vitamin A5 is a newly identified micronutrient that plays an important role in the prevention of diet-related diseases and (b) vitamin A5 is an important micronutrient that provides a plausible, mechanistic explanation for why a Western lifestyle diet low in vegetables and especially leafy vegetables can lead to a high prevalence of Western-lifestyle diseases, particularly neurological diseases and poor mental health.
Keywords: mental health; neurodegenerative diseases; healthy diet; leafy vegetables; longevity mental health; neurodegenerative diseases; healthy diet; leafy vegetables; longevity

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MDPI and ACS Style

Bohn, T.; Rohn, S.; Böhm, V.; Despotovic, M.; de Lera, A.R.; Krezel, W.; Kucuk, O.; Bánáti, D.; Rühl, R. Vitamin A5: Evidence, Definitions, Gaps, and Future Directions. Nutrients 2025, 17, 2317. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17142317

AMA Style

Bohn T, Rohn S, Böhm V, Despotovic M, de Lera AR, Krezel W, Kucuk O, Bánáti D, Rühl R. Vitamin A5: Evidence, Definitions, Gaps, and Future Directions. Nutrients. 2025; 17(14):2317. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17142317

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bohn, Torsten, Sascha Rohn, Volker Böhm, Marta Despotovic, Angel R. de Lera, Wojciech Krezel, Omer Kucuk, Diána Bánáti, and Ralph Rühl. 2025. "Vitamin A5: Evidence, Definitions, Gaps, and Future Directions" Nutrients 17, no. 14: 2317. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17142317

APA Style

Bohn, T., Rohn, S., Böhm, V., Despotovic, M., de Lera, A. R., Krezel, W., Kucuk, O., Bánáti, D., & Rühl, R. (2025). Vitamin A5: Evidence, Definitions, Gaps, and Future Directions. Nutrients, 17(14), 2317. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17142317

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