Longitudinal epidemiological data are scarce on the relation between dietary intake of vitamin A and respiratory outcomes in childhood. We investigated whether a higher intake of preformed vitamin A or provitamin β-carotene in mid-childhood is associated with higher lung function and with asthma risk in adolescence. In the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, dietary intakes of preformed vitamin A and β-carotene equivalents were estimated by food frequency questionnaire at 7 years of age. Post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced expiratory flow at 25–75% of FVC (FEF25–75) were measured at 15.5 years and transformed to z scores. Incident asthma was defined by new cases of doctor-diagnosed asthma at age 11 or 14 years. In multivariable adjusted models, a higher intake of preformed vitamin A was associated with higher lung function and a lower risk of incident asthma: comparing top versus bottom quartiles of intake, regression coefficients (95% confidence intervals) for FEV1 and FEF25–75 were, respectively, 0.21 (0.05-0.38; P-trend 0.008) and 0.18 (0.03-0.32; P-trend 0.02); odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for FEV1/FVC ratio below the lower limit of normal and incident asthma were, respectively, 0.49 (0.27-0.90, P-trend 0.04) and 0.68 (0.47, 0.99; P-trend 0.07). In contrast, there was no evidence for association with β-carotene. We also found some evidence for modification of the associations between preformed vitamin A intake and lung function by BCMO1, NCOR2 and CC16 gene polymorphisms. A higher intake of preformed vitamin A, but not β-carotene, in mid-childhood is associated with higher subsequent lung function and lower risk of fixed airflow limitation and incident asthma.
CITATION STYLE
Talaei, M., Hughes, D. A., Mahmoud, O., Emmett, P. M., Granell, R., Guerra, S., & Shaheen, S. O. (2021). Dietary intake of vitamin A, lung function, and incident asthma in childhood. European Respiratory Journal, 58(4). https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.04407-2020
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