What is Vitamin Deficiency / Avitaminosis?
Vitamin deficiency is a deficiency which is caused by lack of one or more essential vitamins in our body. Some diets are making you prone to vitamin deficiency which is called as primary deficiency. Some medical conditions also can affect your absorption of vitamins which is called as secondary deficiency (1✔).
Insufficient intake of food, lack of ability to absorb vitamins, and less nutrient diet are the main causes of vitamin deficiency (2✔).
The signs of vitamin deficiency are hair loss, burning sensation in the feet or tongue, wounds are slow to heal, bone pain, irregular heartbeat, and night vision get worse (3✔).
Top Ten Interesting Facts about Vitamin Deficiency
Statistics on Vitamin Deficiency
- Deficiency of vitamin A (45%), vitamin C (46%), vitamin D (95%), vitamin E (84%), and zinc (15%) are present among Americans (4✔).
- Around 33% of children under the age of five from the developing countries have vitamin A deficiency. This deficiency causes low immunity and night blindness (5✔).
- An estimated 250,000 to 500,000 children in the world are becoming blind every year because of vitamin A deficiency. Also, around 50% of them die within a year of losing their vision (6✔).
- Sun is a natural source of vitamin D, however its deficiency is quite common. Almost 90% of colored Americans are deficient of vitamin D and the deficiency is 70% among elderly Americans. The figures are similar in other countries (7✔).
Effects of Vitamin Deficiencies
- Researchers are beginning to find that low levels of vitamin D may linked to other diseases, including high blood pressure, depression, obesity, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and colon cancer (8✔).
- Vitamin B12 deficiency with elevated homocysteine levels were linked to early death because of heart disease and Alzheimer's disease (9✔).
- Vitamin B12 deficiency may cause impotence or recurrent spontaneous abortion (10✔).
- Deficiency of vitamin B6 or folic acid during pregnancy is associated with neural tube defect among newborns (11✔).
- In Asia, where polished white rice was the key staple food of the middle class, a deficiency of Vitamin B1 (thiamine) was observed. A condition called beriberi was endemic for many decades and millions were crippled because of the disease (
Go to source" data-original-title="" title="">12✔). - James Lind, a Scottish doctor from Royal Navy was responsible for discovery of scurvy (lack of vitamin C). This was common among sailors who sailed the seas in the 17th century (13✔).
