Vitamin C and D Deficiency: Symptoms, Effects and Prevention
Water Soluble Vitamin Deficiency Disorders:
1. Vitamin B complex:
a. Vitamin B1 (thiamine): Deficiency disorder: Beriberi
b. Vitamin B2 (riboflavin): Deficiency disorder: Oral ulcer
c. Vitamin B3; (niacin): Deficiency disorder: Pellagra, it means rough skin
d. Vitamin B5 (pantothanic acid): Deficiency disorder: Fatty liver
e. Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine): Deficiency disorder: Neurological disorder
f. Folic acid: Deficiency disorder:
- Megloblastic anemia,
- Deficiency of maternal folic acid may result in neural tube defect of the fetus.
g. Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin):Deficiency disorder:
- Demyelination of nerve fibers,
- Pernicious anemia or megaloblastic anemia.
2. Deficiency disorder of vitamin C:
- Scurvy.
Effects of Vitamin D Deficiency Disorder:
Rickets is a disease of young children (6 months to 2 years) characterized by:
- Growth failure,
- Bone deformity,
- Muscular hypotonia,
- Tetany,
- Convulsion due to hypocalcemia.
There is an elevated concentration of alkaline phosphatase in the serum.
Osteomalacia in adults:
In adult vitamin D deficiency may result in osteomalacia which occurs mainly in women, especially during pregnancy and lactation when requirements of vitamin D are increase.
Prevention of Vitamin D Deficiency:
It includes-
- Educating parents to expose their children regularly to sunshine.
- Periodic dosing (prophylaxis) of young children with vitamin D; and
- Fortification of foods, especially milk.
Clinical Features of Scurvy or Vitamin C Deficiency in Infants and Young Children:
Most frequent symptoms-
- General irritability,
- Tenderness of the limbs, especially of the legs,
- Pseudo paralysis, usually involving the lower extremities,
- Involvement of costochondral junctions: changes such as beading of ribs,
- Haemorrhage around erupting teeth (in infants without teeth gums appear normal),
- Anaemia.
Possible symptoms-
- Anorexia,
- Low-grade fever,
- Mild diarrhoea, sometimes bloody,
- Petechial haemorrhages in the skin.
Prevention of Scurvy or Vitamin C Deficiency in Children:
The main approaches to preventing the onset of scurvy in emergency situations affecting large populations are as follows:
- Providing food rations containing adequate amounts of vitamin C by increasing the variety of the food basket and regularly including fresh fruit and vegetables.
- Providing sufficient food in the ration to allow refugees to sell the surplus for other purposes.
- It has been found that refugees with the highest value of rations received did, in fact, consume the greatest amounts of fruit and vegetables (Hansch, 1992).
- Fortifying current relief commodities with vitamin C, e.g. providing fortified blended cereallegume food in the general ration in sufficient amounts to cover vitamin C requirements.
- Providing vitamin C supplements in the form of tablets at least weekly.
- Encouraging and facilitating, where feasible, cultivation by refugees of fruits and vegetables in home gardens.
More questions related to this article:
- What are the deficiency disorders of water soluble vitamins?
- What are the effects of vitamin D deficiency disorder?
- Mention the deficiency diseases of vitamin D deficiency.
- How will you prevent vitamin D deficiency?
- What are the preventions of vitamin D deficiency?
- What are the clinical features of scurvy?
- What are the clinical manifestations of scurvy in infants and young children?
- How will you prevent scurvy in children?
- How will you prevent vitamin C deficiency in children?
- What are the sign and symptoms of vitamin C deficiency in children?
Maria Khatun Mona is a Founder and Editor of Nursing Exercise Blog. She is a Nursing and Midwifery Expert. Currently she is working as a Registered Nurse at Evercare Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She has great passion in writing different articles on Nursing and Midwifery. Mail her at “maria.mona023@gmail.com”