VITAMIN A DURING PREGNANCY COULD IMPROVE KIDS' LUNG FUNCTION
Researchers, led by William Checkley, MD, PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have analysed lung function in 1,371 Nepalese children aged between 9 and 13 whose mothers had taken part in a placebo-controlled, double-blind, cluster-randomised trial of vitamin A or beta-carotene supplementation between 1994 and 1997. They found that vitamin A supplements given during pregnancy had improved lung function in infants by approximately 3%. Children of mothers who received beta-carotene supplements did not experience any benefits, relative to placebo. According to the World Health Organisation, vitamin A deficiency - which causes blindness in up to 500 000 children each year - is a public health problem in more than 50% of countries, especially in Africa and South-East Asia. The World Bank has declared vitamin A supplementation as one of the most cost-effective interventions of all time. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.