Vitamin A Deficiency Blindness

The recommended dietary allowance for vitamin a is 900 micrograms for adult males and 700 µg per day for adult females.
Vitamin a deficiency blindness. Vitamin a deficiency stops the production of these pigments leading to night blindness. Q j exp physiol cogn med sci. Deficiency leads to blindness susceptibility to infectious diseases anemia and thyroid dysfunction. About 500 000 vitamin a deficient children go blind every year and half will not survive more than 1 year after losing their sight.
Periodic high dose vitamin a supplementation is a proven low cost intervention 1 which has been shown to reduce all cause mortality by 12 to 24 per cent 2 and is therefore an important programme in support of efforts to reduce. 44 vitamin a deficiency exacerbates iron deficiency anemia and worsens infectious diseases such as hiv aids and measles. But because vitamin a deficiency is most common in areas with limited medical access the diagnosis is often made informally. People who have a strict vegan diet.
A few salient facts. People who have had weight reduction surgery. People with illnesses affecting the way food is absorbed from the gut bowel into the body. An estimated 250 000 to 500 000 vitamin a deficient children become blind every year half of them dying within 12 months of losing their.
Ocular structure in vitamin a deficiency in the monkey. Your eye also needs vitamin a to nourish other parts of your eye including the cornea. Vitamin a deficiency is the leading cause of preventable childhood blindness and increases the risk of death from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea. Its relation to dark adaptation and night blindness.
To see the full spectrum of light your eye needs to produce certain pigments for your retina to work properly. Just 2 doses of vitamin a given annually to all children 6 59 months of age prevents their developing vitamin a deficiency blindness. An increased risk of vitamin a deficiency occurs in. Ramalingaswami v leach eh sriramachari s.
For example a parent may mention their child s night blindness a common sign. Invest in prevention and preventive interventions. Micronutrient deficiencies vitamin a deficiency. Vitamin a deficiency is the biggest cause of preventable blindness in children worldwide.
Vitamin a supplementation completely stops prevents childhood blindness from vitamin a deficiency. Because vitamin a deficiency can have a range of. Vitamin a deficiency is diagnosed by an eye exam and by reviewing medical history. Without enough vitamin a your eyes cannot produce enough moisture to keep them properly lubricated.
A blood test can measure the amount of vitamin a in the blood. An estimated 250 million preschool children are vitamin a deficient and it is likely that in vitamin a deficient areas a substantial proportion of pregnant women is vitamin a deficient. Vitamin a plays an important role in your vision. Google scholar tansley k.