American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 62, 434-438, Copyright © 1995 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Vitamin A supplementation, morbidity, and serum acute-phase proteins in young Ghanaian children

SM Filteau, SS Morris, JG Raynes, P Arthur, DA Ross, BR Kirkwood, AM Tomkins and JO Gyapong
International Child Health, Institute of Child Health, London, UK.

The association of vitamin A supplementation with concentrations of positive acute-phase proteins in the serum was investigated in the Child Health Study of the Ghana Vitamin A Supplementation Trials, a randomized, controlled trial of the effect of vitamin A on morbidity in children aged < 5 y. Mean serum concentrations of alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, serum amyloid A, and C-reactive protein did not differ overall between the vitamin A-supplemented and placebo-treated groups. Treatment groups were then subdivided according to what symptoms children had experienced in the week before blood sampling. Acute-phase- protein responses to fever and cough were not affected by vitamin A supplementation. There was a tendency for vitamin A-supplemented children, but not placebo children, to have elevated acute-phase proteins in association with reported vomiting or severe diarrhea. The failure of unsupplemented children to mount an acute-phase response may have contributed to their increased morbidity from gastrointestinal symptoms.

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