Fawzi W W, Herrera M G, Willett W C, Nestel P, el Amin A, Lipsitz S, Mohamed K A
Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115.
Am J Clin Nutr. 1994 Feb;59(2):401-8. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/59.2.401.
Increased consumption of dietary vitamin A is advocated as a long-term solution to vitamin A deficiency. We prospectively examined the relationship of dietary vitamin A intake and child mortality among 28,753 Sudanese children aged 6 mo to 6 y, who participated in a trial of vitamin A supplementation. After 18 mo of follow-up, 232 children died. Total dietary vitamin A intake was strongly and inversely associated with risk of mortality. The age- and sex-adjusted relative risk (RR) of mortality for a comparison of children in extreme quintiles was 0.35 (95% CIs 0.21-0.60; P for trend over quintiles < 0.0001). Even after possible confounding by socioeconomic variables was adjusted for, vitamin A intake was significantly protective (multi-variate relative risk 0.53). Dietary vitamin A intake was especially protective among children who were wasted and stunted or who had diarrhea or cough. These prospective data support an important role of dietary vitamin A in reducing childhood mortality in developing countries.
