Vitamin A Status and Nutritional Intake of Carotenoids of Preschool Children in Ijaye Orile Community in Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the vitamin A status and nutritional intake of carotenoids of 213 children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years in a rural community in Nigeria. There were 109 males and 104 females. A total of 57 (26.8 per cent) children were deficient in serum retinol levels (< 10 microg/dl) while 102 (47.9 per cent) had low levels (10-19 microg/dl). The highest prevalence of serum retinol deficiency was in the 6-12 months age group, most of whom were breastfeeding and there was poor correlation between duration of breastfeeding and serum retinol levels. The prevalence of night-blindness was 1.5 per cent; however, none of the children had xerophthalmia. Chronically malnourished children had lower mean serum retinol levels than well nourished children. There was a high consumption of carotenoid-containing food, but despite this there was a high prevalence of vitamin A deficiency. We therefore suggest that measures to combat vitamin A deficiency should include vitamin A supplementation on a short-term basis. On a long-term basis parents should be educated on the importance of the consumption of locally available sources of provitamin A and pre-formed vitamin A rich foods, and the avoidance of overcooking. Parents should also be encouraged to grow more beta-carotene containing foods.

Breast-feeding, dietary intakes and their associations with subclinical vitamin A deficiency in children in Anhui Province, China

“…Residing in rural areas, ranking second or more in the order of siblings, mother's education less than junior high school, mother's occupation of farmer, no vitamin A preparation supplementation in the previous 6 months, and diarrhoea in the past 2 weeks were risk factors for SVAD in the univariate analysis; only children ranked second or more in the order of siblings were found to be at risk of SVAD in the fully adjusted logistic regression model. Our finding regarding the association between breastfeeding and SVAD among children aged 0-5 years was comparable with a recent study of pre-school children in Nigeria, which shows that serum retinol deficiency was highest in those who were breast-feeding 7 . Another recent study in Kenya indicated that the risk of VAD in breast-fed infants older than 6 months was high 6 .…”

Relationship between vitamin A status and anaemia among school age children in Benin

“…1 The prevalence of subclinical vitamin A deficiency (serum retinol value below 0.7µmol/L or 20µg/dl) among pre-school children world -wide ranges from 9.8%-35.6%. 2 Higher prevalence rate of 63% 3 has been reported in pre-school age children in Western Nigeria. In school age children a prevalence rate of 20%, and 46.3% was reported in Bangladesh and North West Mexico 4,5 respectively.…”

“…A high correlation between haemoglobin concentration and plasma/serum retinol concentration was found among school aged children in Bangladesh. 4 Various studies have been carried out on vitamin A in Nigeria, some of which have reported on the prevalence rate of vitamin A deficiency 3,8, and vitamin A levels in children under the age of five years. 12 These studies however, did not include school age children in which vitamin A deficiency have been reported in studies outside Nigeria.…”

Subclinical vitamin A deficiency in Israeli-Bedouin toddlers

“…Globally, it is estimated that about 3 million children are clinically deficient and another 250 million experience subclinical deficiency . Severely depleted retinol stores are associated with visual impairment and blindness (Asrat et al, 2002;Congdon & West Jr, 2002;Oso et al, 2003). Low retinol stores are associated with an increased risk of severe illness, and even death, from such common childhood infections as diarrheal disease, respiratory infections and measles (Ahmed et al, 2000;D'Souza & D'Souza, 2002;Reyes et al, 2002).…”

“…The effectiveness of these programs may be enhanced by also targeting factors associated with reduced absorption and increased utilization of vitamin A. Previous studies indicate that a range of factors, including low birth weight, stunting, wasting, underweight, acute respiratory infection and diarrheal morbidity, socioeconomic, environmental and demographic characteristics, may influence serum retinol concentration (Faber & Spinnler Benade, 2000;Khandait et al, 2000;Feungpean et al, 2002;Miller et al, 2002;Oso et al, 2003). The extent to which these factors affect retinol stores is likely to vary by community and geographic location.…”