The research links diabetes, vitamin A deficiency, and the early loss of vision. (Source: Getty Images/Thinkstock)
Diabetes is one of the most common lifestyle diseases that affects many Indians. Retinopathy, an eye condition common in diabetic patients, can result in loss of vision.
A new study puts some light on how adding Vitamin A can improve eyesight in diabetic patients. According to the research, there may be a link between diabetes, vitamin A deficiency, and early loss of vision characteristic of some cases of diabetic retinopathy. Although in later stages, it is characterised by damage to the retina’s blood vessels, in its early stages, a person can still experience loss of vision without any such damage, according to scientists in the study, which appeared in The American Journal of Pathology.
Dr Gennadiy Moiseyev, from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, stated, “In an earlier study we found that diabetes causes vitamin A deficiency in the retina, which results in deterioration of vision, even before any vascular changes can be seen. That finding led to the assumption that early changes in vision in diabetes are probably caused by vitamin A deficiency in the retina.”
The research was conducted in three groups of mice, two that scientists created to have diabetes, and one that matched the age and sex of the mice with diabetes but did not have it themselves. The case study found that the mice which received treatment with “9-cis-retinal” had significantly improved vision across all measures. Adding to the results, the author remarked, “This work supports our novel hypothesis that diabetes-induced disturbance of the vitamin A metabolism in the eye is responsible for reduced visual function in early stages of diabetic retinopathy.”