Open AccessAn Accidental Nutritionist
Author(s) -
Alfred Sommer
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
annual review of nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.231
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1545-4312
pISSN - 0199-9885
DOI - 10.1146/annurev-nutr-111919-033415
Subject(s) - nutritionist , medicine , blindness , smallpox , accidental , vitamin a deficiency , malnutrition , xerophthalmia , pediatrics , gerontology , vitamin , optometry , vaccination , retinol , immunology , pathology , physics , acoustics
My career as an accidental nutritionist began with my immersion in cholera control, a cyclone disaster, a smallpox epidemic, and formal training in ophthalmology and epidemiology. Interest in blindness prevention inexplicably led me to (re)pioneer the effects, treatment, and prevention of vitamin A deficiency, while faced with intense criticism by many leading scientists in the nutrition community. The resulting efforts by the World Health Organization and UNICEF in support of programs for the global control of vitamin A deficiency still face vocal opposition by some senior scientists, despite having been estimated to have saved tens of millions of children from unnecessary death and blindness. This entire journey was largely an accident!