Vitamin A deficiency in children part II.-Vitamin: A requirements of babies: Skin lesions and vitamin A deficiency

Abstract

Nature of investigation.-Evidence was sought concerning the existence of a possible vitamin A deficiency in the diet of London babies getting a liberal, allowance of milk, and later ' table food ' in addition, and on the effect on the health of babies should such a deficiency exist. Between January, 1931, and October, 1932, a period of 22 months, two groups of artificially-fed babies were kept under observation in the out-patient department of the Queen's Hospital for Children. The average period of attendance was approximately 8 months. All were fed on a roller-process dried milk containing iron and ammonium citrate (HIemolac) to which were added vitamin D, orange juice and sugar. From the age of 7 or 8 months, solid food (including eggs, fish, vegetables and meat) replaced part of the milk ration. Approximately half the children (60) received in addition extra vitamin A; the other half (58 children), serving as controls, were dependent for vitamin A on that naturally present in their dried milk or ' table food.' The vitamin A intake of the A cases (though difficult to compute quantitatively, even for the babies entirely bottle-fed, on account of the variations in the estimated vitamin A values, of the milk), was, even at the lowest estimate, a number of times as great as that of the controls. Results.-The addition of vitamin A had no influence on the general health; rate of gain in-weight, or on the general resistance to infection, whether to infections of the respiratory or digestive tract or to specific fevers. On the other hand, the incidence of minor ' infective ' skin lesions (sore biuttocks, intertrigo, etc.), was approximately double in the control group What it was in the A group, and this difference was found to be statistically significant. No difference in the degree of moisture of the skin or in its texture was noted in the two groups. The incidence of urticaria and-other non-bacterial skin lesions was approximately the same in the two groups.