Red palm oil supplementation: A feasible diet-based approach to improve the vitamin A status of pregnant women and their infants

Abstract

This double-blinded, randomized, controlled study was designed to study the effect of dietary supplementation with red palm oil during pregnancy on maternal and neonatal vitamin A status. A total of 170 women were recruited at 16 to 24 weeks of gestation and randomly assigned to an experimental group that received red palm oil to supply approximately one recommended dietary amount (RDA) (2,400 μg) of β-carotene or to a control group that received an equivalent volume of groundnut oil. The women received the oils for a period of 8 weeks, starting at 26 to 28 weeks of gestation and extending to 34 to 36 weeks of gestation. The mean postintervention (34 to 36 weeks) levels of serum retinol were 1.20 ± 0.22 (SD) μmol/L (95% CI, 1.15-1.25) in women receiving red palm oil and 0.73 ± 0.15 μmol/L (95% CI, 0.69-0.77) in their infants; these levels were significantly higher than those in women receiving groundnut oil (1.07 ± 0.26 μmol/L; 95% CI, 1.01-1.13; p < 0.7 μmol/L) after intervention (1.5% vs. 9.7%). The proportion of women having anemia was significantly lower (p