NUTR 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Vitamin A Deficiency, Vitamin, Tocopherol
Document Summary
Vitamin a deiciency is a threat to the health, sight, and lives of millions of children around the world. Can be caused by insuicient intake of vitamin a, fat, protein, or zinc: vitamin a deiciency tends to be associated with other deiciencies. Xerophthalmia greek word for dry eyes": eyes harden and can no longer funcion, can lead to blindness. Vitamin a deiciency kills hundreds of thousands of children every year in lower resource countries: 250 million are vitamin a deicient world wide. Liver and other organ damage (extreme circumstances: taking a supplement, could cause death. Birth defects in pregnant women: if high levels are taken during irst trimester. Preformed vitamin a can be toxic if taken in high amounts. Medicaions made from vitamin a (e. g. , rein a, accutane) can cause serious side efects: irritated eyes, muscle pain, depression. It"s possible to overdose from 10x the rda alone!! Ul is 2000 rae (just over 3,000 micrograms of preformed vitamin a)
