Serum retinol in urban Mexican women during the perinatal period.

Objective. To establish the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency during pregn ancy and lactation in a group of urban Mexican women. Material and methods. A group of pregnant women who attended a prenatal care program were invite d to participate. Subjects had no added pathologies and were less than 20 w eeks pregnant. Evaluations were performed 3 times during pregnancy until 24 weeks post-partum. Vitamin A levels were determined in serum by high perfo rmance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The cut-off point to consider retinol deficiency was < 1.05 mu mol/l. Results. During the 3 gestational evaluatio ns, vitamin A levels were 2.34+/-0.70, 2.41+/-1.03 and 1.86+/-0.66 mu mol/L , respectively, which shows a significant decrease. However, only 1/30 was situated below the accepted cut-off point to consider risk of deficiency, a nd none for deficiency. During post-partum,concentrations remained relative ly constant, approximately 2.10 mu mol/L. Lactation had no impact on serum retinol levels, while weight loss did. Conclusions. No cases of vitamin A d eficiency were found in the studied population during the perinatal period. Maternal weight loss affects post-partum retinol levels.