http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-06/bsj-vad061306.php

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Public release date: 13-Jun-2006

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-06/bsj-vad061306.php

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BMJ Specialty Journals

Vitamin A deficiency linked to major intestinal surgery

Vitamin A deficiency in patients with a remote history of intestinal

surgery. Br J Ophthalmol 2006 Online First: doi: 10.1136/bjo.2006.092592

Major intestinal surgery, including stomach reduction for obesity, may

boost the chances of subsequent vitamin A deficiency, suggests a small

study published ahead of print in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

The researchers base their findings on three patients with increasingly

poor eyesight or night blindness, who attended a specialist eye clinic

within the space of a year. None of the patients had a family or

personal history of eye problems.

All three patients, who were all over the age of 65, had had extensive

intestinal surgery between 20 and 35 years earlier.

The operations included intestinal bypass, surgical removal of diseased

tissue as a result of inflammatory bowel disease, and gallbladder removal.

All the patients were diagnosed with vitamin A deficiency, and this was

in spite of them having taken vitamin supplements.

One of the patients refused injections of vitamin A into the muscles.

But the other two went ahead with this treatment, which prompted an

improvement in their vision within days.

Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of childhood blindness in

developing countries, and is caused by malnutrition. It is rare in

affluent, developed countries, where it is mainly caused by poor

absorption or abnormal metabolism.

A fat soluble vitamin, it is absorbed through the small intestine as

either retinol or carotene, and stored in the liver for up two years and

transported to tissues as needed.

Vitamin A is essential for the healthy working of the photosensitive

pigment and superficial tissues of the eye. Night blindness is one of

the most common symptoms of vitamin A deficiency.

The authors warn that the increasing popularity of gastric banding and

gastric bypass, the surgical treatments for obesity, is making vitamin A

deficiency increasingly common in the developed world.

--

ne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar@... >

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