Evaluation of dietary vitamin A intake in children with and without growth retardation

Abstract

A possible involvement of vitamin A in regulating physiological nocturnal growth hormone secretion has been recently suggested leading us to evaluate the daily vitamin A supply in prepubertal school children. A questionnaire including a list of foods containing vitamin A and/or beta-carotene was answered with the aid of the parents. Vitamin A supply was expressed in retinol-Equivalent and estimated as mean daily intake over a one-year period. Following this methodology, a study was conducted in 104 control school children with normal stature and 110 children with short stature. The total daily vitamin A intake (mean +/- SD: 1.197 micrograms +/- 799), retinol (675 micrograms +/- 628) and beta carotene (525 micrograms +/- 355) was above or equal to the recommended intake in more than 75% of the control children. In contrast, the total daily vitamin A intake (mean +/- SD: 787 micrograms +/- 850, P < 0.0002) retinol (436 micrograms +/- 670, P < 0.0004) and beta carotene (353 micrograms +/- 466, P < 0.002) was significantly decreased in those children with short stature, more than 35% of them having daily intake below the recommended one. The dietary vitamin A intake was also deficient when expressed as ER/1,000 calories (mean SD = 444 +/- 262) in the 46 children with short stature in whom the calorie intake had been evaluated for three days. This study confirms that annual dietary vitamin A intake can easily be measured in school children. Its results suggest that this intake, relatively deficient in children with short stature, could be correlated with deficient secretion of growth-hormone.