Abstract
In animals, fetal development and growth are altered by maternal vitamin A deficiency. Severely deficient pregnant animals experience complications of gestation and often resorb or abort their fetuses, or they produce offsprings with congenital abnormalities affecting several organ systems (Wallington and Underwood, 1986). Newborn and weanling rats fed diets deficient in vitamin A maintain normal growth for a period of weeks then their growth slows, plateaus and declines. These are classic observations in experimental studies conducted in several animal species, and for many years were the basis for the biological assay of vitamin A potency and nutritional adequacy (Moore, 1957). This fact also is the basis for setting basal dietary requirements linked to growth rate throughout the life cycle (FAO/WHO, 1988).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ananzo, M. A., Lamb, A. J., and Olson, J. A., 1979, Growth, appetite, sequence of pathological signs and survival following the induction of rapid, synchronous vitamin A deficiency in the rat, J. Nutr. 109:1419.
Arthur, P., Kirkwood, B., Ross, D., Morris, S., Gyapong, J., Tomkins, A., and Addy, H., 1992, Impact of vitamin A supplementation on childhood morbidity in northern Ghana, Lancet 339:361.
Beaton, G. H., Martorell, R., L’Abbé, K. A., Edmonston, B., McCabe, G., Ross, A. C., and Harvey, B., Effectiveness of vitamin A supplementation in the control of young child morbidity and mortality in developing countries, Final report to CIDA, 1992.
Bedo, G., Santisteban, P., and Aranda, A., 1989, Retinoic acid regulates growth hormone gene expression, Nature 339:231.
Daulaire, N. M. P., Starbuck, E. S., Houston, R. M., Church, M. S., Stukel, T. A., and Pandey, M. R., 1992, Childhood mortality after a high dose of vitamin A in a high risk population, Brit. Med. J. 304:207.
DeLuca, L. M. and McDowell, E. M., 1989, Effects of vitamin A status on hamster tracheal epithelium in vivo and in vitro, Food Nutr. Bull. (UNU) 11:20.
do Vale Pereira, N. D., Abreu, L. V., and Freusberg, O., 1966, Observaçûes clinicas em 64 criança portadoras de hipvitaminose A, Arquivos Catarinenss de Medicina 1:1.
Evans, R. M., 1988, The steroid and thyroid hormone receptor superfamily, Science 240:889.
FAO/WHO Report of a Joint Expert Consultation, 1988, Requirements of vitamin A, iron, folate and vitamin B12, FAO Food & Nutrition Series, No. 23, FAO, Rome.
Giguere, V., Ong, E. S., Segui, P., and Evans, M., 1987, Identification of a receptor for the morphogen retinoic acid, Nature 330:624.
Goodman, D. S., 1984, Vitamin A and retinoids in health and disease, N. Engl. J. Med. 310:1023.
Hayes, K. C., 1971, On the pathophysiology of vitamin A deficiency, Nutr. Rev. 29:3.
Herrera, M. G., Nestel, P., El Amin, A., Fawzi, W. W., Mohamed, K. A., and Weld, L., 1992, Vitamin A supplementation and child survival, Lancet 340:267.
Lutter, C. K., Mora, J. O., Habicht, J-P., Rasmussen, K. M., Robson, D. S., Sellers, S. G., Super, C. M., and Herrera, M. G., 1989, Nutritional supplementation: effects on child stunting because of diarrhea, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 50:1.
Moore, T., 1957, Biological Methods, in “Vitamin A”, T. Moore, ed., Elsevier Publishing Co., London.
Muhilal, Permeisih, D., Idjradinata, Y. R., Muherdiyantiningsih, and Karyadi, D., 1988, Vitamin A-fortified monosodium glutamate and health, growth, and survival of children: a controlled field trial, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 48:1271.
Omori, M. and Chytil, F., 1982, Mechanism of vitamin A action — gene expression in retinol-deficient rats, J. Biol. Chem. 257:14370.
Rahmathullah, L., Underwood, B. A., Thulasiraj, R. D., and Milton, R. C., 1991, Diarrhea, respiratory infections, and growth are not affected by a weekly low-dose vitamin A supplement: a masked, controlled field trial in children in southern India, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 54:568.
Rahmathullah, L., Underwood, B. A., Thulasiraj, R. D., Milton, R. C., Ramaswamy, K., Rahmathullah, R., and Babu, G., 1990, Reduced mortality among children in southern India receiving a small weekly dose of vitamin A, N. Engl. J. Med. 323:929.
Sommer, A., Tarwotjo, I., Djunaedi, E., West, K. P., Jr., Loeden, A. A., Tilden, R., Mele, L., and the Aceh Study Group, 1986, Impact of vitamin A supplementation on childhood mortality, Lancet i:L169.
Stoltzfus, R. J., Hakimi, M., Miller, K. W., Rasmussen, K. M., Dawiesah, S., Habicht, J-P., and Dibley, M. J., 1993, High dose vitamin A supplementation of breast-feeding Indonesian mothers: effects on the vitamin A status of mother and infant, J. Nutr. 123:666.
Tarwotjo, I., Katz, J., West, K. P., Jr., Tielsch, J. M., and Sommer, A., 1992, Xerophthalmia and growth in preschool Indonesian children, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 55:1142.
Udomkesmalee, E., 1992, Overview of vitamin A: globel situation and the Thai experience, in “Integrating Food and Nutrition into Development”, P. Winichagoon, Y. Kachondham, G. A. Attig, K. Tontisirin, eds., Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University of Salaya, Thailand and UNICEF East Asia & Pacific Regional Office, Bangkok.
Umesono, K., Giguere, V., Glass, C. K., Rosenfeld, M. G., and Evans, R. M., 1988, Retinoic acid and thyroid hormone induce gene expression through a common responsive element, Nature 336:262.
Underwood, B. A., 1984, Vitamin A in animal and human nutrition, in “The Retinoids”, M. B. Sporn, A. B. Roberts, D. S. Goodman, eds., Academic Press, New York.
Underwood, B. A., 1990, Vitamin A prophylaxis programs in developing countries: Past experiences and future prospects, Nutr. Rev. 48:265.
Vijayaraghavan, K., Radmalam, G., Prakasam, B. S., Sarma K. V. R., and Reddy, V., 1990, Effect of massive dose vitamin A on morbidity and mortality in Indian children, Lancet ii:1342.
Wallingford, J. C. and Underwood, B. A., 1986, Vitamin A deficiency in pregnancy, lactation, and the nursing child, in “Vitamin A Deficiency and its Control”, J. C. Bauernfeind, ed., Academic Press, Inc., New York.
West, K. P., Jr., 1991, Dietary vitamin A-deficiency: effects on growth, infection, and mortality, Food Nutr. Bull. (UNU) 13:119.
West, K. P., Jr., Pokhrel, R. P., Katz, J., LeClerq, S. C., Khatry, S. K., Shrestha, S. R., Pradhan, E. K., Tielsch, J. M., Pandey, M. R., and Sommer, A., 1991, Efficacy of vitamin A in reducing preschool child mortality in Nepal, Lancet 338:67.
West, K. P., Jr., Djunaedi, E., Pandji, A., Kusdiono, Tarwotjo, I., Sommer, A., and the Aceh Study Group, 1988, Vitamin A supplementation and growth: a randomized community trial, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 48:1257.
WHO/USAID/NEI Report of a Joint Consultation of Principal Investigators, 1992, Vitamin A mortality and morbidity studies, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
Zile, M. H., Bunge, E. C., and DeLuca, H. F., 1979, On the physiological basis of vitamin A-stimulated growth, J. Nutr. 109:1787.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Underwood, B.A. (1994). The Role of Vitamin A in Child Growth, Development and Survival. In: Allen, L., King, J., Lönnerdal, B. (eds) Nutrient Regulation during Pregnancy, Lactation, and Infant Growth. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 352. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2575-6_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2575-6_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-2577-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-2575-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive