Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Vitamin A and β-carotene supply of women with gemini or short birth intervals

A pilot study

  • ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION
  • Published:
European Journal of Nutrition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

An adequate supply of vitamin A during pregnancy and breastfeeding plays an important role for development of foetus and neonate, especially in lung development and function.

Aim of the study

Aim of this pilot study was to analyze vitamin A and β-carotene status and to investigate the contribution of nutrition to the vitamin A and β-carotene supply in mother–infant pairs of gemini or births within short birth intervals.

Methods

Twenty-nine volunteers aged between 21 and 36 years were evaluated for 48 h after delivery. During this time frame a food frequency protocol considering 3 months retrospective was obtained from all participants. In order to establish overall supply retinol and β-carotene levels were determined in maternal plasma, cord blood and colostrum via HPLC analysis.

Results

Regardless of the high to moderate socio-economic background, 27.6% of participants showed plasma retinol levels below 1.4 μmol/l which can be taken as borderline deficiency. In addition, 46.4% showed retinol intake <66% of RDA and 50.0% did not consume liver at all although liver contributes as a main source for preformed retinol. Despite high total carotenoid intake of 6.9 ± 3.6 mg/d, 20.7% of mothers showed plasma levels <0.5 μmol/l β-carotene. Retinol and β-carotene levels were highly significantly correlated between maternal plasma versus cord blood and colostrum. In addition, significantly lower levels were found in cord blood (31.2 ± 13.0% (retinol), 4.1 ± 1.4% (β-carotene) compared with maternal plasma.

Conclusions

Despite the fact that vitamin A and β-carotene rich food is generally available, risk groups for low vitamin A supply exist in the western world.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Biesalski HK, Nohr D (2003) Importance of vitamin-A for lung function and development. Mol Aspects Med 24:431–440

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Shah RS, Rajalakshmi R, Bhatt RV, Hazra MN, Patel BC, Swamy NB, Patel TV (1987) Liver stores of vitamin A in human fetuses in relation to gestational age, fetal size and maternal nutritional status. Br J Nutr 58:181–189

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Chytil F (1996) Retinoids in lung development. FASEB J 10:986–992

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Atkinson SA (2001) Special nutritional needs of infants for prevention of and recovery from bronchopulmonary dysplasia. J Nutr 131:942–946

    Google Scholar 

  5. Verma RP, McCulloch KM, Worrell L, Vidyasagar D (1996) Vitamin A deficiency and severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia in very low birthweight infants. Am J Perinatol 13:389–393

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Strobel M, Heinrich F, Biesalski HK (2000) Improved method for rapid determination of vitamin A in small samples of breast milk by high-performance liquid chromatography. J Chromatogr A 898:179–183

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. IOM, Institute of Medicine, Food, Nutrition Board (2001) Dietary reference intakes for vitamin A, vitamin K, arsenic, boron, chromium, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, silicon, vanadium, and zinc. National Academy Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  8. De Pee S, West CE, Permaesih D, Martuti, Muhilal, Hautvast JG (1998) Orange fruit is more effective than are dark-green, leafy vegetables in increasing serum concentrations of retinol and b-carotene in schoolchildren in Indonesia. Am J Clin Nutr 68:1058–1067

    Google Scholar 

  9. van Lieshout M, West CE, van Breemen RB (2003) Isotopic tracer techniques for studying the bioavailability and bioefficacy of dietary carotenoids, particularly beta-carotene, in humans: a review. Am J Clin Nutr 77:12–28

    Google Scholar 

  10. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung (DGE) (2000) Referenzwerte für die Nährstoffzufuhr. Umschau Braus GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, pp 69–77

  11. Biesalski HK, Fürst P (1999) Ernährungsmedizin. Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart New York, pp 111–122

    Google Scholar 

  12. Dimenstein R, Simplicio JL, Ribeiro KD, Melo IL (2003) Retinol levels in human colostrum: influence of child, maternal and socioeconomic variables. J Pediatr (Rio J) 79:513–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Schulpis KH, Michalakakou K, Gavrili S, Karikas GA, Lazaropoulou C, Vlachos G, Bakoula C, Papassotiriou I (2004) Maternal-neonatal retinol and alpha-tocopherol serum concentrations in Greeks and Albanians. Acta Paediatr 93:1075–1080

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Ross JS, Harvey PW (2003) Contribution of breastfeeding to vitamin A nutrition of infants: a simulation model. Bull World Health Organ 81:80–86

    Google Scholar 

  15. Huffman S, Rasmusson E, Newman V, O’Gara C (1993) Breastfeeding and the environment. A policy brief from Wellstart International. Birth Gaz 10:17–18

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Pedro RA, Cadelaria LV, Bacos FF, Ungson B, Lanot E (1996) A simplified dietary assessment to identify groups at risk for dietary vitamin A deficiency. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 5:164–169

    Google Scholar 

  17. Yeum KJ, Ferland G, Patry J, Russell RM (1998) Relationship of plasma carotenoids, retinol and tocopherols in mothers and newborn infants. J Am Coll Nutr 17:442–447

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Shirali GS, Oelberg DG, Mehta KP (1989) Maternal-neonatal serum vitamin A concentrations. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 9:62–66

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Gazala E, Sarov B, Hershkovitz E, Edvardson S, Sklan D, Katz M, Friger M, Gorodischer R (2003) Retinol concentration in maternal and cord serum: its relation to birth weight in healthy mother-infant pairs. Early Hum Dev 71:19–28

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Dejmek J, Ginter E, Solansky I, Podrazilova K, Stavkova Z, Benes I, Sram RJ (2002) Vitamin C, E and A levels in maternal and fetal blood for Czech and Gypsy ethnic groups in the Czech Republic. Int J Vitam Nutr Res 72:183–190

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Dallaire F, Dewailly E, Shademani R, Laliberte C, Bruneau S, Rhainds M, Blanchet C, Lefebvre M, Ayotte P (2003) Vitamin A concentration in umbilical cord blood of infants from three separate regions of the province of Quebec (Canada). Can J Public Health 94:386–390

    Google Scholar 

  22. Godel JC, Basu TK, Pabst HF, Hodges RS, Hodges PE, Ng ML (1996) Perinatal vitamin A (retinol) status of northern Canadian mothers and their infants. Biol Neonate 69:133–139

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Kiely M, Cogan PF, Kearney PJ, Morrissey PA (1999) Concentrations of tocopherols and carotenoids in maternal and cord blood plasma. Eur J Clin Nutr 53:711–715

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Rondo PH, Abbott R, Rodrigues LC, Tomkins AM (1995) Vitamin A, folate, and iron concentrations in cord and maternal blood of intra-uterine growth retarded and appropriate birth weight babies. Eur J Clin Nutr 49:391–399

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Human Vitamin and Mineral Requirements (1998) Vitamin and mineral requirements in human nutrition: report of a joint FAO/WHO expert consultation. Bangkok, Thailand, 21–30 September 1998

    Google Scholar 

  26. Allen LH (2005) Multiple micronutrients in pregnancy and lactation: an overview. Am J Clin Nutr 81:1206S–1212S

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Institute of Medicine FaNB (2000) Dietary reference intakes for vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium und carotinoids. National Academy Press, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  28. Macias C, Schweigert FJ (2001) Changes in the concentration of carotenoids, vitamin A, alpha-tocopherol and total lipids in human milk throughout early lactation. Ann Nutr Metab 45:82–85

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Sommerburg O, Meissner K, Nelle M, Lenhartz H, Leichsenring M (2000) Carotenoid supply in breast-fed and formula-fed neonates. Eur J Pediatr 159:86–90

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Canfield LM, Clandinin MT, Davies DP, Fernandez MC, Jackson J, Hawkes J, Goldman WJ, Pramuk K, Reyes H, Sablan B, Sonobe T, Bo X (2003) Multinational study of major breast milk carotenoids of healthy mothers. Eur J Nutr 42:133–141

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Lindqvist A, Andersson S (2004) Cell type-specific expression of beta-carotene 15,15′-mono-oxygenase in human tissues. J Histochem Cytochem 52:491–499

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Müller H (1996) Die tägliche Aufnahme von Carotinoiden (Carotine und Xanthophylle) aus Gesamtnahrungsproben und die Carotinoidgehalte ausgewählter Gemüse und Obstarten. Z Ernährungswiss 35:45–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Pelz R, Schmidt-Faber B, Heseker H (1998) Carotenoid intake in the German National Food Consumption Survey. Z Ernährungswiss 37:319–327

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the staff of the University Gynaecological Hospital Ulm for collection of samples and to the mothers and newborns for donations of blood and colostrum. Furthermore, the authors would like to thank BASF Aktiengesellschaft, Ludwigshafen, Germany for financial support of this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. BioTeSys GmbH, Schelztorstr. 54-56, 73728, Esslingen, Germany

    Christiane Schulz

  2. University Gynaecological Hospital Ulm, Ulm, Germany

    Ulrike Engel & Rolf Kreienberg

  3. Dept. of Biological Chemistry and Nutrition, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany

    Hans Konrad Biesalski

Authors
  1. Christiane Schulz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ulrike Engel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rolf Kreienberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hans Konrad Biesalski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christiane Schulz.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schulz, C., Engel, U., Kreienberg, R. et al. Vitamin A and β-carotene supply of women with gemini or short birth intervals. Eur J Nutr 46, 12–20 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-006-0624-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-006-0624-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation