Vitamin A nutritional status in high- and low-income postpartum women and its effect on colostrum and the
Cristiane Santos Sânzio Gurgel1, Evellyn C Grilo1, Larissa Q Lira1
1Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular, Natal, RN, Brazil.
Objective:
To evaluate the vitamin A status in serum and colostrum of postpartum women with different socioeconomic status, comparing the colostrum retinol supply with the vitamin A requirement of the newborn.
Methods:
Cross-sectional study conducted with 424 postpartum women. Vitamin A maternal dietary intake was estimated using a food frequency questionnaire. Colostrum and serum retinol levels were measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Serum retinol concentrations <20μg/dL were indicative of vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Vitamin A levels provided by colostrum <400μgRAE/day were considered as insufficient for term newborns.
Results:
The mean maternal vitamin A intake during pregnancy was 872.2±639.2μgRAE/day in low-income women and 1169.2±695.2μgRAE/day for high-income women (p<0.005). The prevalence of vitamin A deficiency was 6.9% (n=18) in the low-income group and 3.7% (n=6) in the high-income group. The estimated mean retinol intake by infants of the high- and low-income mothers were 343.3μgRAE/day (85.8% AI) and 427.2μgRAE/day (106.8% AI), respectively.
Conclusions:
Serum vitamin A deficiency was considered a mild public health problem in both populations; however, newborns of low-income women were more likely to receive lower retinol levels through colostrum when compared with newborns of high-income mothers.
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