Effects of vitamin A combined with other micronutrients on nutritional status of 3-6 years old children / 第二军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the effects of vitamin A combined with other micronutrients on the nutritional status in children. Methods According to the method of stratified random cluster sampling, three kindergartens were randomly selected out of 7 in the suburbs of Chongqing. A total of 350 preschool children who met the eligibility criteria, aged between 3-6 years old in the selected kindergartens, were randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups the vitamin A group (A group), the vitamin A plus Zn group (AZ group), and the vitamin A supplementation with multiple micronutrients group (AMM group). The supplementation lasted for 6 months in the three groups. The height and weight of the participants were measured and the Z-score value was calculated before and after supplementation to evaluate the incidence of malnutrition. Serumvitamin A, Zn, Fe, Ca and hemoglobin levels were also measured before and after the intervention. A questionnaire survey of the general situation, family status and dietary habit of the children was performed before the supplementation; also the dietary nutrient intake of the children during intervention was investigated by a 24-hour dietary recall method. Results The 24-hour dietary recall results showed that vitamin A, Zn and Ca were inadequate in the diet of the 3-6 years old children in our study. Compared with before supplementation, the serum Zn and Fe levels were significantly different in the three groups 6 months after supplementation (all P0.05). The increment of serum vitamin A in AMM group was significantly greater than those in A and AZ groups (all P0.05). Conclusion The effect of multiple micronutrient supplementation shows no significant difference on nutritional status in 3-6 aged children compared with the two micronutrient supplementations. Micronutrient supplement for children should be based on the main nutritional problems of them, and the best combination of nutrients should be chosen to improve nutrition and health status of children.