Blindness and Other Diseases in Children Arising From Deficient Nutrition (Lack of Fat-Soluble a Factor)

Role of vitamin A in the evolution of cholesteatoma

“…Although not well acknowledged, several studies have shown that otitis media is one of the fi rst manifestations of vitamin A defi ciency and reported to respond to Vitamin A therapy [1,2]. Vitamin A defi ciency is known to greatly increase the risk of otitis media [3].…”

A classified bibliography on psychodietetics.

“…Pillat (636) mentions the malady as one of the eye diseases encountered in Chinese soldiers suffering from vitamin A deficiency. It seems to be well established that lack of vitamin A is the cause (Bloch,629) and the experimental work, as well as clinical results, indicates this to be correct. Fridericia and Holm (632) found that lack of vitamin A along with exposure to strong light caused a delay in the regeneration of visual purple in the retinae of rats.…”

The anemia of vitamin A deficiency: epidemiology and pathogenesis

“…By the 1920s, increased susceptibility to infection and high child mortality were attributed to the lack of vitamin A (Bloch, 1924), and provision of vitamin A was shown to reduce child mortality (Blegvad, 1924). In 1924 Erik Widmark, a professor at the University of Lund, concluded 'there must be in a population in which xerophthalmia occurs a much larger number of cases in which the deficiency in vitamin A, without producing the eye disease, is the cause of a diminished resistance to infections' (Widmark, 1924).…”