Beware! Vitamin D Deficiency May Harm Your Vision
Lifestyle
Low Vitamin D levels can increase the risk of vision loss. Learn the signs, risks, and simple ways to prevent deficiency for healthy eyes.
Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that performs many vital functions in our body. It strengthens bones and boosts our immune system. It's a vitamin we naturally obtain from sunlight, yet its deficiency is extremely common in India.
Approximately 70% to 100% of the population suffers from a deficiency in this essential vitamin. It's commonly believed that a lack of this vitamin weakens bones or affects mood, but research shows that extremely low levels of vitamin D can also cause eye problems. In some cases, it can even lead to permanent vision loss. Let's explore how vitamin D deficiency causes vision loss:
How Vitamin D Deficiency Affects the Eyes
It may sound strange, but blindness due to vitamin D deficiency alone is common, but it's often overlooked. Ignoring it for a long time can lead to serious eye problems. Vitamin D helps reduce inflammation, maintain healthy blood vessels in the retina, and promote cell regeneration in eye tissues.
Low levels of vitamin D in the body significantly increase the risk of diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), uveitis (inflammation inside the eye), and dry eye disease. In diabetic retinopathy, vitamin D deficiency exacerbates damage to the small blood vessels in the retina. Over time, if left untreated, diabetic retinopathy can lead to blindness.
How to Address the Deficiency
As you already know, vitamin D deficiency can be serious. Therefore, it is crucial to address the deficiency in a timely manner. To do this, you can eat vitamin D-rich foods and directly obtain the vitamin through sunlight. Some people also use supplements to address the deficiency.