Caution! Vitamin D deficiency can lead to loss of eyesight; here's how to protect yourself.

News Topical, Digital Desk : Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that performs many vital functions in our bodies. It strengthens bones and boosts our immune system. It's a vitamin we get naturally from sunlight, yet its deficiency is very common in India.

Approximately 70% to 100% of the population suffers from a deficiency of this essential vitamin. It's commonly believed that a lack of this vitamin weakens bones or affects mood, but research suggests that extremely low levels of vitamin D can also cause eye problems. In some cases, permanent vision loss can occur. Let's explore how vitamin D deficiency causes vision loss.

How Vitamin D Deficiency Affects the Eyes

As strange as it may sound, blindness due to vitamin D deficiency alone is a common, yet often overlooked, cause. Long-term neglect 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.

Therefore, very 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 in particular, vitamin D deficiency increases damage to the small blood vessels in the retina. Over time, if left untreated, diabetic retinopathy can lead to blindness.

How to know if you have low Vitamin D

Certain symptoms appear when the body is deficient in vitamin D. Identifying these symptoms early can help address the deficiency. You can identify the deficiency by the following symptoms:

• Incorrect bone growth pattern
• muscle weakness
• Bone pain
• deformity in the joints
• Tiredness
• muscle pain or cramps
• mood swings, such as depression

How to overcome its deficiency

You already know that  a vitamin D deficiency  can be quite serious. Therefore, it's crucial to address this deficiency promptly. To do this, you can eat vitamin D-rich foods and also get the vitamin directly through sunlight. Furthermore, some people also use supplements to address this deficiency.

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