Vitamin A deficiency: 8-year-old becomes permanently blind due to ‘picky eating’ and poor food choices |

“Master, why can’t I see anything?” exclaimed an 8-year-old boy after suddenly losing his sight in the middle of his class. The Malaysian schoolboy was immediately rushed to hospital where he was diagnosed with serious Vitamin A deficiency it affected his optic nerves.
It turned out this was due to the second grader’s poor eating habits which left him severely malnourished. He had only eaten chicken nuggets, sausages and biscuits since he was a baby, leading to an extreme deficiency of vitamin A, a nutrient necessary to maintain the health of the optic nerves.
Vitamin A can help maintain eye health and produce the pigments needed for the retina to function properly. Vitamin A deficiency stops the production of these pigments, leading to night blindness. Your eye also needs vitamin A to nourish other parts of your eye, including the cornea. Without enough vitamin A, your eyes cannot produce enough moisture to keep them properly lubricated. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 2,50,000 to 5,000,000 vitamin A deficient children become blind every year, and half of them die within 12 months of losing their sight.

What is optic neuropathy?

Optic neuropathy is a condition that occurs when the optic nerve is damaged, which can lead to vision loss. The optic nerve is a bundle of nerve fibers that transmit visual information from the eye to the brain.
The disease can cause painless vision deterioration, but if caught early, it can be treated with dietary supplements to replenish missing nutrients. If not treated immediately or not treated immediately, it can lead to optic nerve atrophy, which is irreversible.

Malaysian social media doctor Dr Erna Nadia had shared this episode in a Facebook post and urged parents to include the right foods in their child’s diet and be alert to symptoms such as dry eyes, spots gray on the whites of the eyes at night. blindness or problems producing tears.

Foods rich in vitamin A include spinach, carrots, mangoes, milk, apricots, fish, chicken, eggs and sweet potatoes.
Certain disorders such as restrictive food intake avoidance disorder (ARFID), which is more common in boys, can lead to vitamin A deficiency, with children becoming extremely selective eaters and sometimes uninterested in food. They may eat a limited variety of favorite foods, which can lead to poor growth and nutrition.