Vitamin a deficiency symptoms can cause death in all ages but seems to affect the children in poorer communities most. A lack of vitamin a can be devastating.

Vitamins are important to the proper functioning of our body. Without proper levels of vitamins our bodies will suffer in a variety of ways. One of the most important vitamins in our system is vitamin a. Vitamin a is responsible for maintaining proper vision health, maintaining mucous membranes, regulating lactation, healing new wounds and producing good growth. When there is a deficiency of this vitamin there are some serious side effects.

Some vitamin a deficiency symptoms are related to eye problems consisting of reduced ability to see properly at night, unusual and irritating dry eyes, eye and corneal inflammation. In severe cases it can cause overall blindness. Approximately 250,000 to 500,000 malnourished children in the developing world go blind each year from deficiency of vitamin a.

Other symptoms could be vulnerability to urinary and respiratory infections, lack of taste, slow healing wounds, and a stunted growth. There can also be a lack of appetite and vigor, defective teeth and gums. There may also be an inability to fight off infections, such as measles and other infections causing frequent and prolonged colds. The inability to fight infections due to lack of vitamin a can cause death.

In children a lack of vitamin a can cause a slow growth rate to include slow bone develop and respiratory development.

Deficiency of vitamin a can also cause the mucous membranes of the nose, throat and mouth, the bronchial tubes, lungs, intestinal tract, kidneys to be effected.

These symptoms are typically found in the poorer communities around the world. This is believed to be because of the lack of ability to eat properly due to the economies. The death rate of children in some communities around the world is primarily due to complications cause by lack of vitamin a in their diet due to poor nutrition. There are many communities where a large portion of the populations children become blind and then follow this by death with less than a year gap between the two symptoms. If the vitamin a is increased the symptoms are stopped or improved. Simple nutrition can improve these losses due to symptoms of lack of vitamin a in the diet.