• Major controllable nutritional problem.• 13.8 million children have some degree

of visual loss.•  Approximately 250,000 to 500,000

children go blind each year – Half die within a year.

• Decreased dietary intake.• Impaired absorption.• Altered storage.• Increased utilization.• Chronic diarrhoea, malabsorption.

• Night blindness.• Keratomalacia.• Conjunctival dryness, corneal

dryness,  xerophthalmia.• Bitot’s spots.• Corneal perforation.• Blindness due to structural damage

to the retina.

NIGHT BLINDNESS

• Earliest symptom.• Eyes cannot adjust

to dim light.• Individual finds

difficult to distinguish images in low levels of illumination.

KERATOMALACIA

• Softening of cornea.• Seen in early

childhood due to vitamin A deficiency.

• Subsequently leads to corneal ulceration and perforation.

XEROPHTHALMIA• Conjunctival

dryness owing to vitamin A deficiency.

• Follows chronic conjunctivitis and vitamin A deficiency diseases.

• Eyes fail to produce tears in this condition.

BITOT’S SPOTS

• Triangular or oval foamy, greyish spots appearing on the cornea due to the deficiency of vitamin A.

CORNEAL PERFORATION

• An anomaly in the cornea due to a damage in the corneal surface.

• Treatment for subclinical vitamin A deficiency includes the consumption of vitamin A-rich foods.

• For clinically evident vitamin A deficiency, treatment includes daily oral vitamin A supplements.

Eating at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per

day is recommended in order to provide a

comprehensive distribution of

carotenoids.A variety of foods, such as

breakfast cereals, pastries, breads, etc., are

often fortified with vitamin A.

VITAMIN