Abstract
Objectives: To evaluate the effect of vitamin A supplementation 24 h after delivery on breastmilk retinol concentration. Methods: Fifty low income women were randomly assigned to a single oral dose of 209 μmol of Vitamin A or none at delivery. Maternal serum and breastmilk retinol levels and infant morbidity and anthropometry were serially assessed. Results: Mean (95% CI) serum retinol levels increased in the supplemented mothers at 2.77 (2.3, 3.2) compared to 1.15 (0.9, 1.4) μmol/l in controls (P<0.05) and remained at a significantly higher level of 1.59 (1.4, 1.8) μmul/l compared to 1.33 (1.8, 1.5) μmol/l in the control group (P<0.001) up to a period of three months. Breastmilk retinol concentration was also greater at 24 h after supplementation, mean (CI) 11.34 (9.0, 13.7) μmol/l, compared to 2.95 (2.3, 3.6) μmol/l in the control group (P<0.0001), and remained higher for the next six months at 1.06 (0.9, ,1.3) μmol/l compared to 0.73 (0.6, 0.8) μmol/l in the control group (P<0.02). Infants of the supplemented mothers had reduced mean duration of respiratory tract infection of 3.1 (2.7, 3.5) days compared to 3.7 (3.3, 4.2) days (P<0.03) and mean incidence of febrile illness 0.1 (0.1, 0.1) compared to control infants 0.3 (0.3, 0.3) days, (P<0.002). Conclusion: Vitamin A supplementation of malnourished mothers maintains higher breastmilk retinol concentration for at least six months and reduces the duration of respiratory tract infection and febrile illness in their breastfed infants. Sponsorship: The study was supported by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research and the United States Agency for International Development.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Roy, S., Islam, A., Molla, A. et al. Impact of a single megadose of vitamin A at delivery on breastmilk of mothers and morbidity of their infants. Eur J Clin Nutr 51, 302–307 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600398
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600398
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Nutritional supplements and mother’s milk composition: a systematic review of interventional studies
International Breastfeeding Journal (2021)
-
Clinical vitamin-A deficiency and associated factors among pregnant and lactating women in Northwest Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2019)
-
Impact of maternal vitamin A supplementation on the mother–infant pair in Brazil
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2010)
-
Effect of vitamin supplementation on breast milk concentrations of retinol, carotenoids and tocopherols in HIV-infected Tanzanian women
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2009)
-
Neonatal Vitamin A Deficiency and Its Impact on Acute Respiratory Infections among Preschool Inuit Children
Canadian Journal of Public Health (2008)