Efect of vitamin A suplementation: a systematic review

Abstract

To evaluate the effect of vitamin A supplementation in postpartum infants and women on serum retinol levels and breast milk. The databases Medline, PubMed, Lilacs and SciELO were consulted. The descriptors used were vitamin A, dietary supplement, child, postpartum period, infant and nutrition programs policies. Search found 7432 articles. After elimination of duplicity and application of eligibility criteria, 8 studies remained. All evaluated the effect of vitamin A supplementation on immediate postpartum, five studies used retinyl palmitate supplementation, one with retinyl palmitate and two did not specify the form of supplementation. Six studies evaluated colostrum and two included supplementation of children. It was found that supplementation in the puerperium increases the concentrations of serum retinol and breast milk, however, this result was in the short term and was relevant when the previous concentrations of the mother were low. When maternal serum concentrations are adequate, the retinol content in milk does not change, with little relevance for children. Further studies should be performed to evaluate the effect of megadoses supplementation on serum concentrations of children.

Vitamin A Requirements in Pregnancy and Lactation

“…Similar systematic reviews evaluating the effect of VAS in postpartum women came to similar conclusions. Supplementation with VA increased serum and breastmilk VA; however, the effect was limited to the short term and when maternal baseline concentrations were low ( 72 ). Another systematic review evaluated high-dose VA on blood and milk VA and found significant elevation in milk VA in 9 of 11 studies and significant elevation in blood in 4 of 9 studies compared with control groups ( 73 ).…”

Implementasi Pemberian Vitamin A Ibu Nifas di Kota Palu dan Kabupaten Sigi

“…Penelitian Matamoros menunjukkan 50% dari 79 sampel ibu, kandungan vitamin A dalam ASI tidak memenuhi rekomendasi kebutuhan untuk bayi (5) . Prevalensi defisiensi vitamin A lebih tinggi (6,9%) pada kelompok berpenghasilan rendah dibanding pada kelompok berpenghasilan tinggi (3,7%) (6) Suplementasi Vitamin A dalam masa nifas meningkatkan konsentrasi serum retinol dan ASI, namun ini hanya relevan ketika konsentrasi serum retinol ibu sebelumnya rendah (7) Kurangnya efek pada kematian ibu dan bayi serta terhadap morbiditas, suplementasi vitamin A pascapersalinan ibu menawarkan manfaat yang masih terbatas (1,8) . Penelitian Tomiya et all menunjukkan tidak ada perbedaan yang signifikan antara konsentrasi retinol dalam ASI antara kelompok 400.000 IU vs 200.000 IU (9) .…”

Role of Vitamin A in Mammary Gland Development and Lactation

“…Furthermore, in humans, an insufficient supply of vitamin A to the fetus is associated with organ malformations, preterm birth, and low neonatal stores, which increase the risk of infectious diseases and could exert a negative effect on health later in life [36,[45][46][47]. Pregnant and breastfeeding women are considered to be at risk due to their higher demand for micronutrients, and should be advised to consume enriched products with β-carotene or, even better, vitamin A plus β-carotene, in order to avoid nutritional deficits [16,19,25,[31][32][33][34]48].…”

“…Due to the positive relationship between dietary intake of carotenoids and breastmilk concentration, breastfeeding mothers should have a diet abundant in this micronutrient. Therefore, the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) is higher for pregnant and lactating women than for non-pregnant women [17,19,31,[41][42][43]48,75,90,92].…”

“…Although calorie and protein content are largely unaffected by a woman's diet, there are some micronutrients in breast milk that will only be at adequate levels if there is sufficient dietary intake. Nutritional supplements should be given to these mothers to fulfill the requirements of micronutrients such as vitamin A in newborns [19,48,103]. It is well established that maternal VAD in pregnancy leads to placental dysfunction, fetal loss, congenital malformations, and preterm birth.…”