. (1973). Archives of Disease in Childhood, 48, 360. Vitamin E and haemolytic anaemia in premature infants. Studies in 50 premature babies aged 6 to 8 weeks showed that vitamin E plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of the 'anaemia of prematurity'. Administration of 10 mg/day vitamin E orally elicited a clear-cut clinical and haematological response.There was a relation between the type of nutrition and the onset of anaemia, anaemia regularly developing within 2 weeks of changing from human milk to a powdered cow's milk formula. Susceptibility to haemolysis was quantitated by measuring the free haemoglobin after exposure of the erythrocytes to hydrogen peroxide. This peroxide haemolysis was increased when the vitamin E level in the blood was below 0 6 mg/100 ml. It became normal a few days after vitamin E administration and the consequent rise in blood concentration.It is concluded that a supplement of vitamin E is advisable from the 10th diy onwards in premature infants who are artificially fed.Several distinct features, ranging from encephalomalacia to hepatic or renal degeneration and nutritional muscular dystrophy, have been described in vitamin E deficient animals (Dacie, 1960;Darby et al., 1949;Darby, 1968). Vitamin E depletion is often found in humans with malabsorption syndromes, but several authors failed to find clear-cut clinical manifestations (Binder et al., 1965;

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