American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 68, 1068-1074, Copyright © 1998 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Reappraisal of the role of vegetables in the vitamin A status of mothers in Central Java, Indonesia

S de Pee, MW Bloem, J Gorstein, M Sari, , R Yip, R Shrimpton and
Helen Keller International, Jakarta, Indonesia. sdepee@compuserve.com

Food-based approaches for controlling vitamin A deficiency and its consequences, such as increased mortality, more severe morbidity, and anemia, have become increasingly important, thus prompting a reassessment of the relation between vitamin A intake and status. A nutrition surveillance system in Central Java, Indonesia, assessed the vitamin A intake and serum retinol concentration of women with a child < or =24 mo old with a semiquantitative 24-h recall method that categorized vitamin A-containing foods into 3 categories of plant foods and into 2 categories of animal foods and identified portions as small, medium, or large. Median vitamin A intake was 335 retinol equivalents (RE)/d (n = 600) and vitamin A intake from plant foods was 8 times higher than from animal foods. Serum retinol concentration was related to vitamin A intake in a dose-response manner. The multiple logistic regression model for predicting the chance for a serum retinol concentration greater than the observed median (> or = 1.37 micromol/L) included physiologic factors, vitamin A intake from plant [odds ratio (95% CI) per quartile: 1st, 1.00: 2nd, 1.23 (0.75, 2.02); 3rd, 1.60 (0.97, 2.63); and 4th, 2.06 (1.25, 3.40)] and animal [1st and 2nd, 1.00; 3rd, 1.31 (0.86, 2.02); and 4th, 2.18 (1.40. 3.42)] foods, home gardening [(no, 1.00; yes, 1.71 (1.12, 2.60)], and woman's education level [< or =primary school, 1.00; > or =secondary school, 1.51 (1.02, 2.22)]. Despite the fact that plant foods contributed 8 times as much vitamin A as did animal foods, serum retinol concentrations did not reflect this large difference. Home gardening and woman's education level seemed to reflect longer-term consumption of vitamin A-rich plant and animal foods, respectively.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Fujita, E. Brindle, J. Shofer, P. Ndemwa, Y. Kombe, B. Shell-Duncan, and K. A. O'Connor Retinol-Binding Protein Stability in Dried Blood Spots Clin. Chem., November 1, 2007; 53(11): 1972 - 1975. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. de Pee, M. W. Bloem, M. Sari, L. Kiess, R. Yip, and S. Kosen The High Prevalence of Low Hemoglobin Concentration among Indonesian Infants Aged 3-5 Months Is Related to Maternal Anemia J. Nutr., August 1, 2002; 132(8): 2215 - 2221. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. J Edwards, C.-S. You, J. E Swanson, and R. S Parker A novel extrinsic reference method for assessing the vitamin A value of plant foods Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, September 1, 2001; 74(3): 348 - 355. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				T. N. Ncube, T. Greiner, L. C. Malaba, and M. Gebre-Medhin Supplementing Lactating Women with Pureed Papaya and Grated Carrots Improved Vitamin A Status in a Placebo-Controlled Trial J. Nutr., May 1, 2001; 131(5): 1497 - 1502. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				C. M. Lee, A. C. Boileau, T. W. M. Boileau, A. W. Williams, K. S. Swanson, K. A. Heintz, and J. W. Erdman Jr. Review of Animal Models in Carotenoid Research J. Nutr., December 1, 1999; 129(12): 2271 - 2277. [Abstract] [Full Text]