Vitamin A Deficiency
Vitamin A deficiency is widespread in poor nations and very rarely in developed states. Sufferers of night blindness – people who can’t see well in soft light – are more likely to have a vitamin A deficiency.
Night blindness is one of the commonest signs of vitamin a deficiency. According to WHO ( World Health Organisation ), night blindness among expectant women in developing countries is worryingly high.
Vitamin A deficiency Symptoms can be just a mild case or it can be much severe. An easy way to find if you’re not getting enough vitamin A in your diet it to look in the mirror and examine your eyes. The video below explains it better but the jest of it is that if you find yourself having to wear sunglasses every time you’re outside to avoid a headache you may be deficient in Vitamin A. Why? How? …Watch the video and see for yourself…
This video makes it a little easier to visualize how you can benefit from making sure your eat enough of the right foods that contain both the retinol and carotene versions of Vitamin A. This could be especially important for pregnant Moms to be. Expecting mothers with vitamin A deficiency are more likely to die when pregnant and during birth, and might have problems with lactation.
People with vitamin A deficiency can also develop xerophthalmia, dry eyes, and even complete blindness.
Between 250,000 and 500,000 underfed youngsters worldwide lose their vision each year because they do not have enough vitamin A in their diets. Half of them are likely to die within twelve months of becoming blind.
Children that do not take enough vitamin A have more serious risks of dying of some infective illnesses such as measles. Low vitamin A levels can also make children at the mercy of gut rot, slow bone development, and breathing infections.
But, as mentioned above, the good news is that those that suffer from vitamin A deficiency are more likely to come from developing countries. Developed countries such as the United States and Canada rarely have any cases.
But, again as mentioned above, something still needs to be done for women with children in developing countries as well as they cope with an influx of pregnant women with night blindness caused by not eating enough vitamin A.
About 33% of children on this planet will be deficient in Vitamin A to some degree with almost 700,000 children dying every year. If these kids don’t get the treatment they need and their night blindness becomes worse, their immune system could become impaired or they end up contracting some form of cancer or even birth defects.
For more info on vitamin a deficiency, don’t miss this great article.
