Vitamin A Deficiency

Depletion of the body’s Vitamin A stores is brought about by a prolonged intake of diet lacking in vitamin A.

Aside from promoting good night vision, Vitamin A plays a host of other important roles. It plays a part in:

• Promoting health of mucus membranes and skin

• Bone growth

• Reproduction

• Maintenance of cell membrane stability

• Helping the adrenal glands to synthesize a hormone

• Helping to ensure a normal output of thyroxine from the thyroid gland

• Helping to maintain nerve cell coverings

• Assisting in immune reactions

• Helping to manufacture red blood cells

With all these and other functions, you can just imagine the terrible problems that arise when Vitamin A is lacking or absent in the body.

The body can store up to one year’s supply of vitamin A, keeping 90% in the liver. Deficiency symptoms will only start to appear after your stores are depleted. Appearance of symptoms suggests that you have stopped eating good food sources of Vitamin A for quite some time.

Probable Causes

• Prolonged starvation

• Too little food intake

• Anorexia (See Underweight)

• Zinc deficiency (plays a major role in Vitamin A bioavailability)

• Poor food choices (lack of variety)

• Refusal to eat vegetables

Probable Symptoms
Area Affected	Main Effects	Technical Name for Symptoms
Eye       Retina       Membranes                General        Drying       (mildest         form)   Skin GI Tract Respiratory Tract Urogenital Tract Bones Teeth Nervous System Immune System Blood	Night Blindness Failure to secrete mucopolysaccharide causes change in epithelial tissue Triangular gray spots on eye Irreversible drying and degeneration of the cornea causes blindness (most severe) The eye’s symptoms of Vitamin A deficiency   Hair follicles plug with keratin, forming white lumps Changes in lining; diarrhea Changes in lining; infections Changes in lining favor Calcium deposition, resulting in kidney stones, bladder disorders Infections of bladder and kidney Infections of vagina Bone growth ceases; shapes of bones change; joints are painful Enamel-forming cells malfunction; teeth develop cracks and tend to decay; dentin-forming cells atrophy Brain and spinal cord grow too fast for stunted skull and spine; injury to brain and nerves causes paralysis Depression of immune reactions Anemia, often masked by dehydration	Xerophthalmia Xerosis Bitot’s spots Keratomalacia Hyperkeratinization Hyperkeratosis

Helpful Dietary Management

• Eat a balanced diet including dark green leafy and yellow vegetables. (See Foods Rich in Vitamin A)

Reference: Healing Wonders of Diet Effective Guide to Diet Therapy p.66-67 © 2003 Philippine Publishing House ISBN 971-581-013-6

Simple Goiter (Iodine Deficiency)

Simple goiter is a visible enlargement of the thyroid gland due to lack of available iodine in the blood.

Iodine is needed by the thyroid gland to synthesize thyroxine, a hormone responsible for regulating the rate of energy release within every body’s cell. When the iodine level of the blood is low, the cells of the thyroid gland work harder and enlarge in an attempt to get as many particles of iodine as possible.

About 96% of all goiter cases are caused by iodine deficiency (simple goiter).

Probable Causes

• Poor iodine content of soil from which food is grown

• Overconsumption of antithyroid-containing plants

Note: The cabbage family contains antithyroid (goitrogen). Its effect cannot be counteracted by dietary iodine.

Probable Symptoms

• Sluggishness

• Weight gain

• Enlargement of thyroid gland (frontal neck part)

Note: Severe iodine deficiency during pregnancy causes cretinism characterized by severe and irreversible mental and physical retardation. However, much of the mental retardation associated with cretinism can be averted by diagnosis and treatment of iodine deficiency early in pregnancy.

Helpful Dietary Management

• Eat seaweeds and vegetables grown in iodine-rich soil. (See Iodine in Foods)

• Use iodized salt.

• Eat a well-planned balanced diet.

Reference: Healing Wonders of Diet Effective Guide to Diet Therapy p.64-65 © 2003 Philippine Publishing House ISBN 971-581-013-6

Anemia

Anemia is a condition wherein there is a decrease in hemoglobin (red coloring and oxygen carrier of the blood) per unit volume of blood below the established normal level for a certain age and sex.

The World Health Organization description for anemia is below 12 gm Hb/dl of blood for women and below 14 gm Hb/dl for men; and a hematocrit below 34%. 

Probable Causes

• Iron deficiency-nutritional anemia

• Loss of blood-hemorrhagic anemia

• Deficiency of Vitamin B12 or folic acid-pernicious anemia

Having greater risk of developing anemia are those with increased iron requirement such as:

• Frequent blood donor

• A woman having one pregnancy after another

• A woman with heavy menstrual bleeding

Note: Infections must be treated as these can easily depress blood formation.

Probable Symptoms

• Weakness

• Easy fatigability

• Pallor (Paleness)

• Breathing difficulty on exertion

• Palpitation

• Headache

• “Deadtired” feeling

• Thin and brittle fingernails

Note: The diagnosis of anemia is based on analysis of blood constituents.

Iron Deficiency Symptoms

• Effects on muscular work:

                -reduced work productivity

                -reduced work tolerance

                -reduced voluntary work

• Reduced physical fitness, weakness and fatigue

• Reduced resistance to cold, inability to regulate body temperature

• Reduced resistance to infection (lowered immunity)

• Itchy skin

• Pale nailbeds, eye membranes, palm creases, concave nails

• Pica (clay eating, ice eating)

• Lactose intolerance and possibly intolerance to other sugars

• Impaired wound healing

• Increased risk of lead and cadmium poisoning

• Impaired cognitive function (children): reduced learning ability, impaired visual discrimination, increased distractibility (inability to pay attention)

• Impaired reactivity and coordination (infants)

Helpful Dietary Management

• Eat a high-protein diet with emphasis on other nutrients that aid red blood cell formation including iron, Vitamin C and B-complex vitamins.

• Provide supplementary foods which are iron-rich for infants as early as 4 to 6 months.

Reference: Healing Wonders of Diet Effective Guide to Diet Therapy p.62-63 © 2003 Philippine Publishing House ISBN 971-581-013-6