VITAMIN-A STATUS OF HEALTHY INFANTS IN ANKARA, TURKEY

Vitamin A deficiency is considered widespread health problem among chi ldren in developing countries. There are a limited number of studies r elated to the vitamin A status of children in Turkey, We studied serum vitamin A levels in 80 healthy children less than 2 years of age admi tted to Dr. Sami Ulus Children's Hospital for measles immunization, Vi tamin A levels were determined by high performance liquid chromatograp hy, and ranged from 8.5 to 34 mu g/dl (mean 23.54 +/- 6.86 mu g/dl), W e have shown that subclinical vitamin A deficiency is an important pub lic health problem in Ankara, as approximately 30 percent of the child ren examined were found to have low levels of serum vitamin A (< 20 mu g/dl).