Vitamin A status of healthy infants in Ankara, Turkey

Abstract

Vitamin A deficiency is considered widespread health problem among children in developing countries. There are a limited number of studies related to the vitamin A status of children in Turkey. We studied serum vitamin A levels in 80 healthy children less than 2 years of age admitted to Dr. Sami Ulus Children's Hospital for measles immunization. Vitamin A levels were determined by high performance liquid chromatography, and ranged from 8.5 to 34 micrograms/dl (mean 23.54 +/- 6.86 micrograms/dl). We have shown that subclinical vitamin A deficiency is an important public health problem in Ankara, as approximately 30 percent of the children examined were found to have low levels of serum vitamin A (< 20 micrograms/dl).