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Front Public Health 2021 27;9:650823. Epub 2021 Apr 27.

Chongqing Key Laboratory of Child Nutrition and Health, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Children's Nutrition Research Center, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health and Disorder, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

This study aimed to explore the changes in infant vitamin A (VA) status and the effect of early VA supplementation on VA level throughout the first 6 months of life. A prospective cohort study was conducted in Chongqing, China. A total of 1,016 healthy infants were enrolled at birth. Read More

Wei Sheng Yan Jiu 2021 Mar;50(2):186-191

National Institute for Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Key Laboratory of Trace Element Nutrition, National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, Beijing 100050, China.

Objective: To analyze the level of vitamin A and its influencing factors of Chinese rural elderly.

Methods: The serum samples of the rural elderly were selected by random sampling method from the biological sample bank of Chinese Adults Nutrition and Chronic Diseases Surveillance in 2015(CANCDS2015). The basic information of the subjects was collected by questionnaire survey. Read More

Wei Sheng Yan Jiu 2021 Mar;50(2):181-185

National Institute for Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Key Laboratory of Trace Element Nutrition, National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, Beijing 100050, China.

Objective: To evaluate the nutrition status of vitamin A in Chinese rural pregnant women from the Chinese National Nutrition and Health Survey 2015(CNNHS 2015).

Methods: A total of 3273 Chinese rural pregnant women were recruited in this study. The concentrations of serum retinol were determined using high performance liquid chromatography. Read More

Wei Sheng Yan Jiu 2021 Mar;50(2):175-180

National Institute for Nutrition Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Key Laboratory of Trace Element Nutrition, National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, Beijing 100050, China.

Objective: To estimate the distribution of serum zinc levels, zinc deficiency status and possible influencing factors in 18-60 year-old adults in China.

Methods: Based on the data of China Adult Chronic Disease and Nutrition Surveillance, 3903 blood samples were selected by stratified random sampling. The distribution of serum zinc in adults with different gender, age, regional type and regional distribution were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and body mass index(BMI), exercise, smoking, drinking, vitamin A level and other factors on serum zinc concentration and zinc deficiency rate. Read More

J Nutr Metab 2021 23;2021:8878703. Epub 2021 Apr 23.

School of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia.

Background: Periodic vitamin A supplementation to children is a cost-effective strategy to avert vitamin A deficiency. However, few pieces of evidence are available about the coverage of vitamin A supplementation at the community level in the study area. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess vitamin A supplementation coverage and prevalence of ocular signs of vitamin A deficiency among children aged 6-59 months. Read More

Clin Nutr 2021 Mar 20;40(5):2923-2935. Epub 2021 Mar 20.

Child Life and Health, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 1UW, UK; Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, EH9 1LF, UK.

Background: Research reporting plasma micronutrient status and its impact on clinical outcomes in paediatric cancer is scarce. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence of plasma micronutrient abnormalities and their impact on clinical outcomes and treatment complications.

Methods: A multicentre prospective-cohort study of children aged <18 years diagnosed with cancer was performed between Aug 2010-Jan 2014. Read More

G3 (Bethesda) 2021 May 8. Epub 2021 May 8.

National Crops Resources Research Institute, 9 km Gayaza-Zirobwe Road, Kampala, Uganda.

Global efforts are underway to develop cassava with enhanced levels of provitamin A carotenoids to sustainably meet increasing demands for food and nutrition where the crop is a major staple. Herein, we tested the effectiveness of genomic selection for rapid improvement of cassava for total carotenoids content and associated traits. We evaluated 632 clones from Uganda's provitamin A cassava breeding pipeline and 648 West African introductions. Read More

Food Chem 2021 Apr 22;359:129911. Epub 2021 Apr 22.

C2VN, INRAE, Aix-Marseille Univ, INSERM, Marseille, France.

We showed that black soldier fly larvae reared on fruits and vegetables rich in provitamin A carotenoids can accumulate significant amounts of these vitamin A precursors. Using a simulated gastro-intestinal digestion model, we demonstrated that α- and β-carotene from the larvae are as bioaccessible as from the fruits and vegetables they were reared on. We calculated that provitamin A carotenoid-rich larvae have the capacity to provide more vitamin A than fruits and vegetables rich in these molecules. Read More

Clin Nutr 2021 Apr 7;40(5):2837-2844. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, 244 Garden Avenue, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA. Electronic address:

Background: Vitamin A is necessary for an adequate immune response to infections. Infection also alters vitamin A biomarkers, which interferes with assessment of vitamin A deficiency and thus impairs clinical management. Here we apply multiple strategies to adjust vitamin A biomarkers for inflammation during acute infection and evaluate associations between adjusted vitamin A status and immunologic response markers. Read More

Nutrients 2021 Apr 9;13(4). Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada.

Nutritional deficiencies are a leading underlying risk factor contributing to the global burden of disease. In Pakistan, late adolescence is considered a nutritionally vulnerable period, as micronutrient requirements are increased to support maturation, and dietary staples are nutrient poor. However, there has been limited evaluation of micronutrient status beyond anemia and its determinants. Read More

J Fr Ophtalmol 2021 Apr 20. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Service d'ophtalmologie, hôpital Pierre-Zobda-Quitman, centre hospitalier universitaire de Fort-de-France, CS 90632-97261, 97261 Fort-de-France Cedex, Martinique, France.

Food Nutr Bull 2021 Mar;42(1):133-154

8357International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA.

Background: Rwanda's commitment to reducing malnutrition is evident in their multisectoral nutrition policy and wide array of nutrition partners. However, the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies and the suitability of current strategies to address existing deficiencies is unclear.

Objective: To review the available evidence related to the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies across the life cycle and strategies in place to address them. Read More

J Sci Food Agric 2021 Apr 14. Epub 2021 Apr 14.

Food Quality and Design Group, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands.

Background: Newly developed yellow biofortified cassava has been adjudged as a cost-effective solution to vitamin A deficiency in low- and middle-income countries with high cassava intake such as Nigeria. In this study, yellow cassava was developed into a novel pasta enriched with amaranth vegetable and tested among consumers. Attitudes, perception, motives for consumption and perceived barriers were ascertained using focus group discussions and randomised face-to-face interviews, while liking, preference and ranking of the novel food were established through consumer sensory perception. Read More

JCI Insight 2021 Apr 13. Epub 2021 Apr 13.

Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, Philadelphia, United States of America.

Retinoic acid (RA) signaling is essential for enteric nervous system (ENS) development since vitamin A deficiency or mutations in RA signaling profoundly reduce bowel colonization by ENS precursors. These RA effects could occur because of RA activity within the ENS lineage or via RA activity in other cell types. To define cell-autonomous roles for retinoid signaling within the ENS lineage at distinct developmental time points, we activated a potent floxed dominant-negative RA receptor α (RarαDN) in the ENS using diverse CRE recombinase-expressing mouse lines. Read More

PLoS One 2021 8;16(4):e0250138. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone. Read More

Nutr Neurosci 2021 Apr 8:1-9. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Lipid Biochemistry Division, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.

Objective: Here, we assessed the impact of vitamin A deficiency (both alone and in combination with fructose) on the retinol status, phospholipids fatty acid composition and pathways associated with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and energy homeostasis of the brain. For this purpose, weanling male Wistar rats were divided into four groups consisting of 8 rats each, except 16 for the second group and they received one of the following diets; control, vitamin A-deficient (VAD), high fructose (HFr) and HFr with VAD for 16 weeks, except half of the VAD diet-fed rats, were shifted to HFr diet, after 8 weeks period.

Results: The retinol content of the whole brain remained comparable across the groups, despite a significant reduction in the plasma at the end of VAD diet feeding. Read More

Nutrients 2021 Mar 5;13(3). Epub 2021 Mar 5.

Department of Public Health, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Private Bag 360, Chichiri, Blantyre 3, Malawi.

Retinol Binding Protein (RBP) is responsible for the transport of serum retinol (SR) to target tissue in the body. Since RBP is relatively easy and cheap to measure, it is widely used in national Micronutrient Surveys (MNS) as a proxy for SR to determine vitamin A status. By regressing RBP concentration against SR concentration measured in a subset of the survey population, one can define a population-specific threshold concentration of RBP that indicates vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Read More

Sci Rep 2021 Apr 1;11(1):7394. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, BP 2008, Messa, Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Cassava is a key food security crop in Central Africa, but its production depends largely on the use of local farmers' varieties characterized by inherently low yield which is compounded by generally high susceptibility to various growth and yield-limiting pests and diseases. Improved cassava genotypes have demonstrated the potential to substantially improve cassava's contribution to food security and the development of the cassava industry and the improvement of nutrition status elsewhere in Western Africa. Eleven improved cassava genotypes were compared with a local landrace (LMR) used as a check under field conditions over two years in eight locations, grouped in four agro-ecologies in Cameroon. Read More

BMC Public Health 2021 Apr 2;21(1):648. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

School of Computing and Mathematics, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia.

Background: Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a prominent and widespread public health problem in developing countries, including Bangladesh. About 2% of all deaths among under-five children are attributable to VAD. Evidence-based information is required to understand the influential factors to increase vitamin A supplementation (VAS) coverage and reduce VAD. Read More

Wounds 2021 Mar;33(3):77-80

Wright State University School of Medicine, Dayton, Ohio; Jobst Vascular Institute/ProMedica Health system, Toledo, Ohio.

Introduction: Management of patients with pressure wounds often may entail the administration of vitamins A and C, zinc, and arginine. Supplementing these nutrients as part of a standard wound care protocol may increase the risk for toxicity and unnecessarily increase the cost of health care.

Objective: This study aimed to correlate the nutritional status represented by albumin and prealbumin levels with aforementioned nutrient levels. Read More

Public Health Nutr 2021 Mar 29:1-29. Epub 2021 Mar 29.

Department of Ophthalmology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, College of Medicine, 88 Jiefang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310009, China.

Objective: To investigate the vision loss burden due to vitamin A deficiency (VAD) at the global, regional, and national levels by year, age, sex, and socioeconomic status using prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs).

Design: International, retrospective, comparative burden-of-disease study.

Setting: Prevalence and YLDs data were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2017. Read More

Dev Biol 2021 Mar 25;476:68-78. Epub 2021 Mar 25.

Department of Biology, Integrated Sciences Complex, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, USA. Electronic address:

Vitamin A deficiency can cause human pathologies that range from blindness to embryonic malformations. This diversity is due to the lack of two major vitamin A metabolites with very different functions: the chromophore 11-cis-retinal (vitamin A aldehyde) is a critical component of the visual pigment that mediates phototransduction, while the signaling molecule all-trans-retinoic acid regulates the development of various tissues and is required for the function of the immune system. Since animals cannot synthesize vitamin A de novo, they must obtain it either as preformed vitamin A from animal products or as carotenoid precursors from plant sources. Read More

Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 2021 May 25;246(9):1045-1053. Epub 2021 Mar 25.

Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin involved in essential functions including growth, immunity, reproduction, and vision. The vitamin A Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for North Americans suggested that a minimally acceptable total liver vitamin A reserve (TLR) is 0.07 µmol/g, which is not explicitly expressed as a vitamin A deficiency cutoff. Read More

Plant Cell Rep 2021 May 23;40(5):799-804. Epub 2021 Mar 23.

School of Health and Allied Sciences, Pokhara University, Pokhara 30, Dhungepatan, Pokhara, Gandaki, 33700, Nepal.

The carotenoids available in food are vital dietary micronutrients for human health. Plants synthesize and accumulate different carotenoids in plastids in a tissue-specific manner. The level of β-carotene (provitamin A) and other nutritionally important carotenoids is substantially low in the green tissues such as leaves compared to the fruits and roots. Read More

Am J Clin Nutr 2021 Apr;113(4):854-864

Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.

Background: Reduction of vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in Malawi coincided with introduction of vitamin A-fortified staple foods, alongside continued biannual high-dose vitamin A supplementation (VAS).

Objective: We describe coverage of vitamin A interventions and vitamin A status in the 2015-2016 Malawi Micronutrient Survey.

Methods: Food samples and biospecimens were collected within a representative household survey across 105 clusters. Read More

Food Sci Nutr 2021 Mar 18;9(3):1521-1529. Epub 2021 Jan 18.

Standards Association of Zimbabwe Harare Zimbabwe.

Biofortification interventions have the potential to combat micronutrient deficiencies, such as vitamin A deficiency (VAD), which is prevalent in Zimbabwe. The poor acceptability of provitamin A (PVA)-biofortified maize is still a challenge that exists in Zimbabwe. This study investigated the effect of replacing white maize (WM) with PVA-biofortified maize on the nutritional composition of a Zimbabwean traditional food, and its microbiological safety. Read More

BMC Public Health 2021 Mar 19;21(1):545. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400088, India.

Background: Globally, about 25% of children suffer from subclinical vitamin A deficiency (VAD), and approximately 300 million children globally had anemia as per 2011 estimates. Micronutrient deficiencies are generally referred to as "hidden hunger" because these deficiencies developed gradually. The present study determines the socio-economic inequalities in vitamin A supplementation (VAS) and Iron supplementation (IS) among children aged 6-59 months in India and to estimate the change in the percent contribution of different socio-economic correlates for such inequality from 2005 to 06 to 2015-16. Read More

Front Plant Sci 2021 25;12:619739. Epub 2021 Feb 25.

International Rice Research Institute, Los Baños, Philippines.

Vitamin A deficiency remains a common public health problem among the rice-dependent poor people in the developing countries of Asia. Conventional milled rice does not contain provitamin A (β-carotene) in is edible part (endosperm) and is also deficient in essential minerals, such as iron and zinc. Transgenic Golden Rice event GR2E, which produces β-carotene in its endosperm, was used as a parent to introgress the transgene locus conferring β-carotene biosynthesis into a widely grown rice variety, BRRI dhan29, which covers around 26. Read More

BMJ Case Rep 2021 Mar 10;14(3). Epub 2021 Mar 10.

Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC) is a rare disease of impaired bile acid excretion which can lead to nutritional deficiencies. Vitamin deficiencies during pregnancy can result in adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. A 20-year-old primiparous woman at 30 4/7 weeks with PFIC type 2 presented with worsening cholestasis, coagulopathy and fat-soluble vitamin deficiency. Read More

Lancet 2021 04 7;397(10282):1388-1399. Epub 2021 Mar 7.

Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.

13 years after the first Lancet Series on maternal and child undernutrition, we reviewed the progress achieved on the basis of global estimates and new analyses of 50 low-income and middle-income countries with national surveys from around 2000 and 2015. The prevalence of childhood stunting has fallen, and linear growth faltering in early life has become less pronounced over time, markedly in middle-income countries but less so in low-income countries. Stunting and wasting remain public health problems in low-income countries, where 4·7% of children are simultaneously affected by both, a condition associated with a 4·8-times increase in mortality. Read More