Vitamin A Deficiency: Here's How It Affects Your Eye Health

Vitamin A is essential for your body to complete many processes. It is a fat-soluble compound that is present in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods. Studies have shown that vitamin A can help prevent certain cancers, support a healthy immune system and promote bone health. Vitamin A can also help prevent and treat acne.

Vitamin A plays a crucial role in maintaining your eye health. Its deficiency can affect your vision and overall eye health in more ways than one. Here, let's discuss how a lack of vitamin A in the body can be detrimental to your overall health.

Vitamin A deficiency: Here's how it can affect your vision

Vitamin A deficiency can lead to many complications. According to the World Health Organisation, night blindness is one of the first signs of vitamin A deficiency. When left untreated, vitamin A deficiency can contribute to blindness by making the cornea very dry, thus damaging the retina and cornea.

Other eye-related issues linked with vitamin A deficiency include conjunctival xerosis, bitot's spots, corneal xerosis, corneal scarring and more.

In minor cases, one may experience dry eyes, an inability to produce tears.

WHO has also highlighted that an estimated 250,000 - 500,000 children who are vitamin A-deficient become blind every year, and half of them die within 12 months of losing their sight.

The adverse effects of Vitamin A deficiency are not just limited to your eyes. It can contribute to other consequences as well. Some of these include:

• Inflammatory skin conditions and extremely dry skin
• Infertility in both men and women and trouble conceiving naturally
• Delayed growth in children
• Frequent chest and throat infections in children
• Slow healing of wounds
• Frequent acne and breakouts
• Severe deficiency can also negatively affect pregnancy and lactation
• May contribute to slow bone development in children

Food sources of vitamin A

Several foods are naturally loaded with vitamin A. Some of these include carrots, broccoli, salmon, spinach, sweet potato, mango, watermelon, papaya, apricot, guava, tomatoes, milk and eggs.

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for a qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.