Circulating levels of retinol, tocopherol and carotenoid in Nepali pregnant and postpartum women following long-term β-carotene and vitamin A supplementation

Abstract

Objective: To characterize circulating carotenoid and tocopherol levels in Nepali women during pregnancy and post-partum and to determine the effects of b-carotene and vitamin A supplementation on their concentration in serum. Design: Randomized community supplementation trial. Setting: The study was carried out from 1994 to 1997 in the Southern, rural plains District of Sarlahi, Nepal. Subjects: A total of 1431 married women had an ascertained pregnancy, of whom 1186 (83%) provided an analyzable serum sample during pregnancy; 1098 (77%) provided an analyzable 3 ± 4 months post-partum serum sample. Interventions: Women received a weekly dose of vitamin A (7000 mg RE), b-carotene (42 mg) or placebo before, during and after pregnancy. Serum was analyzed for retinol, a-tocopherol, g-tocopherol, b-carotene, a-carotene, lycopene, lutein zeaxanthin, and b-cryptoxanthin concentrations during mid-pregnancy and at $3 months post-partum. Results: Compared to placebo, serum retinol, b-carotene, g-tocopherol, b-cryptoxanthin and lutein zeaxanthin concentrations were higher among b-carotene recipients during pregnancy and, except for b-cryptoxanthin, at postpartum. In the vitamin A group, serum retinol and b-cryptoxanthin were higher during pregnancy, and retinol and g-tocopherol higher at postpartum. Lutein zeaxanthin was the dominant carotenoid, regardless of treatment group, followed by serum b-carotene. Serum lycopene level was lowest, and very low compared to the US population. Serum retinol was higher, and carotenoid and a-tocopherol lower, at postpartum than during pregnancy in all groups. Conclusions: Pregnant and lactating Nepali women have lower serum carotenoid and tocopherol levels than wellnourished populations. b-carotene supplementation appeared to increase levels of tocopherol and other carotenoids in this population.

Cigarette smoking during pregnancy in rural Nepal. Risk factors and effects of β-carotene and vitamin A supplementation

“…Women were asked to recall the number of times they had consumed 38 different types of vitamin A-and carotenoid-rich foods from a list that was developed using formative research on commonly consumed sources of vitamin A and b-carotene in this area of Nepal. Previously, we have shown that vitamin A and b-carotene food intakes, using the 7-day food frequency recall, were significantly associated with functional and biochemical indicators of vitamin A status such as maternal night blindness (Christian et al, 1998b) and low serum retinol (West et al, 1999) and carotenoid concentrations (Yamini et al, 2001). Mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC), as a measure of nutritional status, was measured at both times.…”

Plasma zinc, vitamin B12 and α-tocopherol are positively and plasma γ-tocopherol is negatively associated with Hb concentration in early pregnancy in north-west Bangladesh

“…Anaemia was defined by Hb concentration as: mild, ,110 g/l or ,105 g/l for gestational age ,12 weeks or $12 weeks, respectively (20) ; moderate, ,90 to 70 g/l; and severe, ,70 g/l. Micronutrient deficiency was defined with the following cut-offs: Fe deficiency, ferritin ,12 mg/l or TfR .8?5 mg/l; retinol, ,0?70 mmol/l (18) ; a-tocopherol, ,9?3 mmol/l (21) ; vitamin B 12 , ,150 pmol/l (22) ; folate, ,6?7 nmol/l (23) ; and Zn, ,8?6 mmol/l (24) . An additional less conservative cut-off of ,12 mmol/l was also used to define a-tocopherol deficiency (25) .…”

“…These assays were performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Human Nutrition on a representative subset of all the available samples, while retinol and tocopherols were assessed on all samples. Retinol, a-tocopherol and g-tocopherol were determined simultaneously by reverse-phase HPLC at Mahidol University in Thailand using the method of Yamini et al (18) . The within-and between-assay CV for plasma samples were ,10 % for all analytes except a-and g-tocopherol, for which inter-assay CV were , 20 %.…”

The Association of Cytokines and Micronutrients with Hepatitis E Virus Infection During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period in Rural Bangladesh

“…Peaks were detected with a photodiode array detector (Waters 2996; Waters Corporation) at 325 and 295 nm for retinol and tocopherols, respectively. 39 Peak area was calculated using Empower software (Waters Corporation). Deficiency was defined as circulating retinal less than 0.7 μmol/L and α-tocopherol less than 12 μmol/L.…”