Vitamin A deficiency an important nutritional problem, that occurs when too little amount of vitamin A intake over a long time which you are eating. It is fat soluble and excessive of vitamin A can be stored in liver thus, deficiency does not occur immediately when there is absence of vitamin A in food. But the deficiency arises when the stored vitamin in the body has been exhausted.
It plays several crucial roles in human body. For instance, it is needed for the adaptation to darkness, so the deficiency may lead to night blindness. Thus it plays a crucial role in the retina of the eyes.
It is one of the public health issues in many countries, especially in developing countries in Africa and South East Asia. Mostly it affects pregnant women as well as young children in low income countries. It can occur to individuals of all age.
It is a high risk for pregnant women, especially during the last trimester when demand by both the mother and unborn child is highest. During this period the mother's deficiency is demonstrated by the high prevalence of night blindness. The impact of vitamin-A deficiency on mother to child, HIV transmission needs further investigation
The deficiency of Vitamin A tends to several impairments and blindness and also increases the risk of several illness, in children. Some times it also causes even death for these common childhood infections as diarrhea, diseases and measles.
Causes for Vitamin-A Deficiency:
The primary cause of the deficiency of vitamin is dietary deficiency. The poor intake of food which is rich in vitamin A leads to respiratory infection, measles, diarrhea, and some other diseases among the children. Such sets of wild infections lead to these deficiency. These deficiency also leads to dryness of the eye called as xerophthalmia, which damages eye cause night blindness.
Symptoms for Vitamin-A Deficiency:
Night blindness: The most common symptom of deficiency of the vitamin is observed in young children and pregnant women is xerophthalmia. These deficiency also increases the severity and mortality risk of infections onset or before of xerophthalmia. The early sign of these symptom is night blindness, they are unable to see in poor light or in darkness.
Bitots spots: These spots are formed in the eye. These are accumulations of foamy, cheesy, material in the eye. These can often occur along with night blindness, and they may differ in shape, size, and location.
Ulceration/Corneal xerosis: The cornea becomes dry and untreated can leads to ulcer of the cornea within hours.
Keratomalacia: This destroys the cornea, which results in permanent blindness. This can lead to perforation of the cornea and also the corneal ulcer.
Corneal scar: A corneal ulcer due to bacteria or fungal infection results in scarring of the cornea. As dry corneal surface is sensitive to infection, if treated early, the scar remains small and will not cause any significant loss of vision.
People with this deficiency tend to have low iron status which leads to anemia.
Health Issues for Vitamin-A Deficiency:
The deficiency in vitamin A tends to many diseases, some of them are as follows: Anemia, cancer, measles, age related macular degeneration, blindness, may also increase the risk for maternal mortality, sometimes even death.
Sources for Vitamin-A Deficiency:
There are many food sources for vitamin-A some of them are as follows: Beef liver, sweet potato, spinach, eggs, milk, peppers, sweet, mangoes, broccoli, apricots, cheese, tomato juice, baked beans, salmon, chicken, carrot, pumpkin pie, etc.
The best source of vitamin A in U.S is fish, liver, diary products, fortified cereals, and the top pro-vitamin sources are broccoli. Carrot, squash, cantaloupe. The other sources which are important source of vitamin A are milk, eggs, which include provitamin A. Most of the provitamin A comes form green leafy vegetables, orange and yellow vegetables, some vegetable oils, tomato products and fruits. Vitamin A is highest in liver and fish oils.
