Blood retinol and beta-carotene levels in rural Guatemalan preschool children

Contribution of a novel high-density micronutrient condiment (HDMC) to nutrient adequacy of home-prepared Guatemalan dishes

BACKGROUND

The diet of low-income Guatemalan populations is mostly plant-based, deficient in some vitamins and minerals, and rich in antinutritional compounds that reduce the bioavailability of several micronutrients. Objective. To describe the manner in which low-income Guatemalan women in rural and urban settings would prepare dishes for main meals using a high-density multimicronutrient condiment (HDMC) and to compare the nutrient density and contribution to the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of the dishes with and without added HDMC.

METHODS

A sample of 30 women, 15 each from rural and urban households, were enrolled. The women were given 20 g of the HDMC and asked to prepare a dish at home, serve it to their families at a time of their own choosing, record the recipe and the amount of condiment added, and report these facts to an interviewer on the following day. The nutrient content of each dish was calculated from food-composition table values for raw, whole ingredients and the package label values for the HDMC.

RESULTS

For all dishes combined, the HDMC provided on average 78% of the total vitamins. The proportion of the total vitamins provided by the HDMC varied greatly among different dishes. Typically a single serving of a dish without added HDMC provided less than half of the RDA (vitamin B12 and folate) for children and adult women. The midday meal is the most important meal of the day and should provide at least half of the RDA of all essential nutrients. With the HDMC added, the dishes on average provided 2 to 10 times the RDA for nutrients such as vitamins B6 and C and niacin in the reference children, and just satisfied the RDA intake for corresponding nutrients in adult women.

CONCLUSIONS

The proportion of the RDAs of micronutrients provided by this novel, micronutrient-rich condiment varies over a wide range, depending on idiosyncrasies of recipe ingredients, amounts of condiment added, individuals served, and age- and physiology-dependent requirements. HDMCs could provide an efficient way to deliver essential micronutrients to vulnerable populations.

Short-term beta-carotene supplementation of lactating mothers consuming diets low in vitamin A

We have previously shown that beta-carotene supplementation of the diets of healthy U.S. mothers increases serum and milk beta-carotene concentrations. Building on these results, we investigated the possibility that beta-carotene supplementation could enhance the vitamin A status of mothers and their nursing infants. Three 30-mg doses of beta-carotene were administered on 3 consecutive days to 44 lactating mothers who had vitamin-A-poor diets. Concentrations of maternal serum and milk carotenoids and retinol were evaluated at baseline and after 2 and 3 days of supplementation. Infant serum carotenoids and retinol were measured at baseline and 2 days following maternal supplementation. beta-Carotene supplementation markedly elevated maternal serum and milk beta-carotene concentrations (nine- and sevenfold, respectively) and resulted in smaller, transient increases of alpha-carotene, lycopene, and beta-cryptoxanthin concentrations in maternal serum. Maternal serum and milk retinol were unchanged in response to the treatment. In contrast, maternal beta-carotene supplementation significantly increased infant serum retinol (P </= 0.001) and beta-carotene concentrations remained unchanged. These results imply that breast milk beta-carotene can supply retinol for the nursing infant. Further research is needed to identify the site of bioconversion of milk-derived beta-carotene to retinol and to describe the factors that regulate this process.