The Vitamin A Nutritional Status of Children Aged 3~12 Years in Hunan Province, China

Abstract

To understand the prevalence and distribution of vitamin A deficiency in Hunan province among children aged 3~12 years old. 520 children (120 in urban area and 400 in rural area) were examined, selected by stratified multi‐stage cluster sampling in Hunan province. The serum retinol was tested by HPLC and diet data were collected by 3 consecutive 24‐h recalls. The average serum retinol level was 30.5μg/dl, or 36.6μg/dl in urban area and 28.6μg/dl in rural area. The serum retinol levels in all 3~6 age groups were lower than 30.0μg/dl. 6.9% (36/520) of children had serum retinol levels < 0.70 μmol/L (1.7% in urban and 8.5% in rural), 46.0% of children had serum retinol levels between 0.70~1.05 μmol/L (20.0% in urban and 53.8% in rural). There were significant difference in deficiency and marginal deficiency of vitamin A between age groups and genders (X2=7.64, P<0.05; X2=6.892, P<0.05). 74% of children aged 1~13 yrs old consumed vitamin A intakes ≤ 60%RNI, and only 16.5% reached 80%RNI. Vitamin A deficiency is prevalent in children of Hunan province, especially in the rural area. Direct reason caused deficiency of vitamin A is low intake of vitamin A.