A vitamin A fruit is one with orange or yellow flesh that supplies provitamin A carotenoids, mainly beta-carotene, which the body turns into retinol. Mango, cantaloupe, papaya and apricot are the common ones in India. One whole raw mango gives about 112 mcg RAE.
What vitamin A is, and its three forms
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that the body needs for vision, immune function and normal cell growth. It does not come as one molecule. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements groups it into two dietary forms, and a third form appears inside the body.
- Preformed vitamin A (retinol and retinyl esters). Found in animal foods: dairy, eggs, fish and organ meats such as liver. The body uses it directly.
- Provitamin A carotenoids. Plant pigments, mainly beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin. This is the form in a vitamin A fruit or vegetable. The body converts them to retinol as needed.
- Retinal. The form made inside the body from retinol. It sits in the light-sensing pigment of the retina, which is why a shortage shows up first as poor vision in dim light.
Intake is counted in micrograms of retinol activity equivalents (mcg RAE), which puts the animal and plant forms on one scale. Beta-carotene from food converts at a lower rate than retinol, so a fruit that looks very orange still contributes less RAE than the same weight of liver. That is not a weakness: the plant form is the one that is safe to eat freely.
Vitamin A fruit list: which fruits actually help
Orange, deep yellow and some red flesh is the visible clue. Pale fruit such as apple, pear, banana and grapes gives very little. The figures below are the NIH fact-sheet values per common serving, rounded; they are for ordinary raw fruit, not for any one variety.
| Food | Serving | Vitamin A, about |
|---|---|---|
| Mango, raw | 1 whole fruit | 112 mcg RAE |
| Cantaloupe (musk melon), raw | Half cup, cubed | 135 mcg RAE |
| Apricots, dried | 5 pieces | 63 mcg RAE |
| Carrots, raw | Half cup | 459 mcg RAE |
| Sweet potato, baked in skin | 1 whole | 1,403 mcg RAE |
Papaya, orange-fleshed persimmon and pink guava also carry carotenoids, though the NIH table does not list them, so we do not quote a number. The practical reading of the table is simple: fruit is a pleasant, steady contributor, while orange vegetables carry the heavy load. A diet with both, plus some dairy or eggs for those who eat them, covers most adults without supplements.
Two habits raise what you absorb. Eat the fruit with a little fat, because carotenoids are fat-soluble; aamras with a spoon of ghee, or mango with curd, does this on its own. And eat it ripe: the deeper the colour, the more carotenoid has formed.
Alphonso mango as a vitamin A fruit
We are Powle Home Foods in Mumbai, and we run AlphonsoMango.in. We sell Alphonso (Hapus) from across 55 villages of the Ratnagiri and Devgad belt on the Konkan coast, in season, by the dozen. Alphonso from this belt is GI-tagged in India under GI No. 139, and we hold GI Authorised User certificate AU/5974/GI/139/260 (GI No. 139).
Alphonso flesh is saffron-orange and non-fibrous, which is why it works so well as aamras. Beyond provitamin A, 100 g of raw mango provides about 36 mg of vitamin C, roughly 40% of the Daily Value, about 43 micrograms of folate, and about 168 mg of potassium. These are generic mango figures, not Alphonso-specific ones; we do not have variety-level lab data and do not claim any.
We do not use carbide. Our Alphonso mangoes are ripened naturally on hay beds. Calcium carbide is prohibited for ripening fruit in India under Regulation 2.3.5 of the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011. We are an FSSAI-licensed seller. Fruit is hand-harvested with a zela pole fitted with a catching net, and harvest to ripening takes about 15 days, so a box may arrive with some fruit still firm. Keep it at room temperature and eat each mango as it softens.
Alphonso is harvested about February to June, with the best supply from March to May. The 2027 season opens on 1 February 2027. Fresh Alphonso is not sold outside the season. The Alphonso mango pulp tin (850 g and 3.1 kg, from Rs 590) is available all year, and so are freeze-dried Alphonso cubes.
Product pages: Ratnagiri Alphonso Mango and Devgad Alphonso Mango, both from Rs 1,849 per dozen; a dozen weighs roughly 1.8 to 3.3 kg depending on grade. Our mango nutrition facts page lists the full table.
How much vitamin A you need, and when fruit is enough
The NIH recommended dietary allowance for adults is 900 mcg RAE a day for men and 700 mcg RAE for women. Needs rise in pregnancy and while breastfeeding; the exact figures and any supplement decision belong with your doctor, because excess preformed vitamin A in pregnancy is harmful.
- Upper limit: 3,000 mcg a day of preformed vitamin A for adults. That limit is about retinol from supplements and liver, not about fruit.
- Carotenoids: no upper limit has been set. The usual effect of eating a great deal of beta-carotene is carotenodermia, a harmless yellow-orange tint of the skin that fades when intake drops.
- Deficiency: shows first as poor night vision and dry eyes. It is uncommon in adults eating a varied diet, but children on very plain diets remain at risk in parts of India.
So a vitamin A fruit is safe to eat daily, and mango in season is a sensible part of that. What fruit cannot do is correct a diagnosed deficiency on its own; that needs medical advice. If you have a liver condition, are pregnant, or take any retinoid medicine, ask your doctor or dietitian before changing your intake. We sell fruit, not health advice.
Vitamin A in dried fruit and pulp through the year
Drying removes water, so weight for weight a dried fruit carries more carotenoid than the fresh one, along with more sugar. Dried apricot is the clearest example: five pieces give about 63 mcg RAE in the NIH table. We list dried apricot (khubani) and jardalu; check the product page for the current price. Dates and raisins contribute very little vitamin A, so buy them for other reasons.
For mango outside the season, the pulp tin is the practical route. It suits aamras, milkshakes, kulfi and lassi; our aamras recipe works with either fresh fruit or pulp. Freeze-dried Alphonso cubes are another all-year option. Neither is a supplement; treat them as food, and we have not measured their vitamin A content.
Related reading: vitamin C fruits in India, how mango is good for health and mango in pregnancy.
People also ask
Which fruit is highest in vitamin A?
Among common fruits, cantaloupe and mango lead: the NIH table gives about 135 mcg RAE for half a cup of cantaloupe and about 112 mcg RAE for one whole raw mango. Dried apricots follow at about 63 mcg for five pieces. Orange vegetables such as carrots and sweet potato give far more than any fruit.
Is mango a good source of vitamin A?
Yes, in the plant form. One whole raw mango supplies about 112 mcg RAE as provitamin A carotenoids, roughly one eighth of an adult man's daily allowance, and 100 g also gives about 36 mg of vitamin C. Eat it ripe and with a little fat, as in aamras with ghee, to absorb more of the carotenoids.
Can you get too much vitamin A from fruit?
Not in any harmful way. The upper limit of 3,000 mcg a day applies to preformed vitamin A from supplements and liver. No upper limit is set for carotenoids from food. Eating a lot of orange fruit can tint the skin slightly yellow, a harmless condition called carotenodermia that fades when intake falls.
How much vitamin A do adults need per day?
The NIH recommended dietary allowance is 900 mcg RAE a day for adult men and 700 mcg RAE for adult women. Needs are higher in pregnancy and while breastfeeding. A varied diet with orange fruit and vegetables, plus dairy or eggs for those who eat them, usually covers it; ask your doctor before taking supplements.
Related searches
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Sources and further reading
- National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements, Vitamin A and Carotenoids: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals, accessed October 2026.
- Wikipedia, Mango.
- Wikipedia, Alphonso mango.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011, Regulation 2.3.5 (compendium version of 2 April 2025).
Written by Prashant Powle, founder of AlphonsoMango.in. Last reviewed October 2026.