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Vitamin E deficiency can damage your nerves and cause night blindness

Vitamin E deficiency can damage your nerves and cause night blindness
Vitamin E deficiency could cause some serious health problems. © Shutterstock

Vitamin E deficiency can be cause for serious concern. It can result in many health disorders that can have grim implications.

Written by Jahnavi Sarma |Published : October 20, 2019 5:49 PM IST

A low-fat diet may cause vitamin E deficiency in a person. This is an essential vitamin for the human body. It not only slows down the ageing process but also stimulates the development of nerves, makes your muscles strong and also gives a boost to your fertility. A deficiency in this essential vitamin may lead to many health conditions that can otherwise be easily avoided. Other than diet, certain medical conditions may also cause this deficiency. Crohn's disease and gallbladder disorders may disrupt your body's ability to absorb nutrients from the foods you eat. This can also cause deficiency.

According to researchers from Yale University, a low concentration of vitamin E in the blood is linked with physical decline in older persons. The study included 698 people around the age of 65 or older. All participants were randomly selected from the population registry in two municipalities close to Florence, Italy. This was published in the JAMA Journal.

SYMPTOMS OF VITAMIN E DEFICIENCY

Other than diet, certain medical conditions may also cause this deficiency. Crohn's disease and gallbladder disorders may disrupt your body's ability to absorb nutrients from the foods you eat. This can also cause deficiency.

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It may make your muscles weak

Vitamin E deficiency may cause myopathy or muscle pain. This is because this vitamin is responsible for the strength of muscle fibres. A study at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University says that without vitamin E, the plasma membrane, which essentially keeps a cell from spilling its contents and controls what moves in and out, cannot properly heal.

Researchers say that this is a big problem for many cells, such as muscle cells, which get membrane tears just from being used. They also add that every cell in your body has a plasma membrane, and every membrane can be torn. This study was published in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine.

Vitamin E deficiency may affect your vision

A deficiency in this vitamin may cause a thinning of the retina or even its degeneration. Hence, it may lead to blurred or double vision. Night blindness is a common symptom of vitamin E deficiency.

It may cause miscarriage in pregnant women

According to a study at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, pregnant women in Bangladesh with low levels of the most common form of vitamin E are nearly twice as likely to have a miscarriage than those with adequate levels of the vitamin in their blood. This study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

It may make you anaemic

You are anaemia if there are not enough red blood cells in your blood. These cells transport oxygen to other parts of the body with the help of haemoglobin. In haemolytic anaemia, there is abnormal break down of the red blood cells. This anaemia is caused by vitamin E deficiency.

It can lead to neurological disorders

Vitamin E deficiency can cause nerve damage This is especially evident in the nerves of the feet and hands. This damage leads to bad reflexes, co-ordination problems and loss of balance.