Pg.no. 63
16. Vitamins and its symptoms
Vitamin A
It is the world's leading cause of preventable blindness in children and increases the risk
of disease and death.
A serious problem in more of half of all countries, though it mainly affects poorer regions.
In pregnant women, vitamin A deficiency can cause night blindness and increase risk of
maternal mortality.
Vitamin A is an essential nutrient, and it’s particularly good for skin and for healthy eyes.
Figure 16.1 (Vitamins)
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B6 allows the body to use and store energy from protein and carbohydrates in
food, helping to form hemoglobin – the substance in red blood cells that carries oxygen
around the body.
Thyroid UK notes that “without this vitamin the thyroid cannot utilize its iodine raw
material efficiently to make the hormones. This vitamin is needed even more by an
overactive thyroid. Muscle weakness is very common in people with an overactive
thyroid and in those who are also lacking in B6.”
Long term high doses of vitamin B6 can be toxic and may result in nerve damage that
may eventually be irreversible.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 has similar roles to folate within the body, helping make red blood cells and
keeping the nervous system healthy, releasing energy from the food we eat.