Supplementing lactating women with pureed papaya and grated carrots improved vitamin A status in a placebo-controlled trial

Doubts have been raised about the effectiveness of carotene-containing food s in improving the vitamin A status of populations at risk. We investigated the effect of papaya and carrots on the vitamin A status of lactating wome n with 2- to 12-mo-old infants in Zimbabwe. The women were randomly assigne d to three supplementation groups and a placebo group, and received 6 mg of beta -carotene capsules, 650 g pureed papaya, 100 g grated carrots or a pl acebo, daily for 60 d. All groups were given a meal containing 10 g of vege table oil daily. Serum retinol, relative dose response, serum ferritin, hem oglobin and C-reactive protein were measured before and after the supplemen tation period. Mean serum retinol increased significantly after supplementa tion in the p-carotene group (P < 0.001), the papaya group (P < 0.001) and the carrot group (P < 0.001), but not in the placebo group (P > 0.05). The relative dose response decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in the beta -caro tene and papaya groups, but not in the carrot or placebo groups (P > 0.05). There was an increase in mean serum ferritin in ail groups but the increas e did not differ among groups. The hemoglobin increases in the beta -carote ne and papaya groups were greater than that in the placebo group. We conclu de that pureed papaya and grated carrots can improve the Vitamin A and iron nutriture of lactating women. These findings reinforce the importance of p lant food-based approaches in the control of vitamin A deficiency in low in come countries.