vitamin A Deficiency
The opposite of the rare situation of a vitamin A
overdose, is the vitamin A
deficiency which affects up to 230 million people (mostly children) in over 75 countries. The main effect is
irreversible damage to the
eyes, and it even may result in
blindness. People with the deficiency do have little white spots in the
iris of the eye; at first blocking only that part of their sight.
Check the WHO website at http://www.who.int/vaccines-diseases/diseases/vitamin_a.htm (or http://www.micronutrient.org/publications/vadkey.shtml) for more information and their plans how to combat the deficiency. Besides providing dietary
supplements and "hitch hiking" with large scale
immunization programs, there are ongoing projects to
stimulate consumption of vitamin A-rich foods. An additional positive effect of the last mentioned approach is, that it stimulates the regional agri-business and is more sustainable than keeping on providing supplements. An example is the use of
sweet potato (camote in spanish; another good source of
beta-carotene, the
precursor of vitamin A) in weaning food, which has been invesitgated at the CIP (www.cipotato.org).