Vitamin A and iron supplementation of Indonesian pregnant women benefits vitamin A status of their infants

Many Indonesian infants have an inadequate nutritional status, which may be due in part to inadequate maternal nutrition during pregnancy. This study was designed to investigate whether infant nutritional status could be impr oved by maternal vitamin A and Fe supplementation during gestation. Mothers of these infants from five villages had been randomly assigned on an indiv idual basis, supervised and double-blind, to receive supplementation once w eekly from approximately 18 weeks of pregnancy until delivery. Supplementat ion comprised 120 mg Fe and 500 mug folic acid with or without 4800 retinol equivalent vitamin A. Mothers of infants from four other villages who part icipated in the national Fe and folic acid supplementation programme were a lso recruited; intake of tablets was not supervised. Anthropometric and bio chemical parameters of infants and their mothers were assessed approximatel y 4 months after delivery. Infants of mothers supplemented with vitamin A p lus Fe had higher serum retinol concentrations than infants of mothers supp lemented with Fe alone. However, the proportion of infants with serum retin ol concentrations <0.70 mu mol/l was > 70 % in all groups. Maternal and inf ant serum retinol concentrations were correlated. Fe status, weight and len gth of infants were similar in all groups. Fe status of girls was better th an that of boys, but boys were heavier and longer. We conclude that supplem entation with vitamin A in conjunction with Fe supplementation of women dur ing pregnancy benefits vitamin A status of their infants. However, consider ing the large proportion of infants with marginal serum retinol concentrati ons, it may still be necessary to increase their vitamin A intake.