Vitamin A May Be Our Most Critical Defense.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- The sage advice from mom to, "eat your carrots," may not be such a bad idea. Vitamin A found in carrots and other orange, red and green leafy vegetables and fruits can help protect children from vision problems that can lead to frustration in school and cause them to be mislabeled with learning disorders and behavioral problems.

"Loss of vision or impaired vision can dramatically alter how a child understands and functions," says Howard Schiffer, executive director of Vitamin Angels, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting malnutrition and childhood blindness caused by vitamin A deficiencies worldwide. "It affects their emotional, neurological and physical development."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one in every 1,000 American children has low vision or is legally blind. Vitamin A deficiency is linked to many vision problems in children and is a major public health problem in more than half the countries around the world. Affecting up to 140 million children every year, vitamin A deficiencies that go untreated can result in the child going blind before age 6.

What's worst, 80 percent of blindness is, in fact, preventable, which is why Schiffer launched an aggressive worldwide campaign called, "Operation 20/20" to eradicate childhood blindness caused by vitamin A deficiency by the year 2020.

Schiffer started tracking the effects of vitamin A supplements given by his organization to children in villages in India where some were dying before the age of 6 due to chronic malnutrition and lack of vitamin A. What he discovered was astounding.

With just two high-dose vitamin A capsules given to children each year starting at age one, for a course of four to five years, Schiffer and his team were able to wipe out the deficiency in the villages and eliminate blindness that usually resulted by age four or five.

"It's a very low tech, low cost way to solve a major global health problem," says Schiffer who says the cost for entire program including the two vitamin A capsules per year is only 25 cents.

Schiffer is gaining support for "Operation 20/20" from celebrities and major companies alike. Longtime cast member of the NBC television drama ER, Noah Wyle, whose character headed to Africa to help those in need, is in real-life lending his support to saving the lives of millions of children around the world with Operation 20/20.

"What caught my interest was how small the investment was to make such a huge impact for these children," says Wyle who has two young children of his own. "When you look at the lives being saved for just quarters, you can't afford not to help. It's an easy way to truly make a difference."

August is National Children's Eye Health and Safety Month. Learn more about Operation 20/20 and how to help: http://www.VitaminAngels.org.