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Maternal and pediatric nutrition

Low breastmilk vitamin A concentration is prevalent in rural Ethiopia

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 73, pages 1110–1116 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background

There is scant information on the breastmilk vitamin A (BMVA) concentration of lactating women in developing countries, partly due to lack of methods applicable in-field.

Objective

To assess BMVA concentrations of samples collected from lactating women of children aged 6–23 months, in Mecha district, Ethiopia.

Subjects/methods

Data on socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics were collected from randomly selected lactating women (n = 104). Breast milk samples were collected and vitamin A concentrations were analyzed using HPLC and iCheck FLUORO then the two measurements were compared.

Results

The prevalence of underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) among lactating women was 17%. Seventy six percent of the BMVA values were <1.05 µmol/l and 81% were <8 µg/g fat. The mean BMVA concentration accounted to 41% of the estimated average value for mothers in developing countries. The BMVA values from HPLC and iCheck were correlated (r = 0.59, p = < 0.001), but it was not strong.

Conclusions

The result indicates the low vitamin A status of the lactating women and their children. It further indicates that intake assessments should not use average BMVA composition. The possibility of using iCheck for monitoring interventions designed to improve vitamin A status of lactating women with low BMVA requires further investigation.

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Funding

This study was funded by the German Academic Exchange service (DAAD)

Author contributions

All authors were involved in developing the study design. ZA and KB looked for funding. ZA coordinated and supervised the fieldwork. ZA and KB analyzed and interpreted the data. ZA wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All the authors contributed to manuscript preparation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Food Science and Nutrition College of Natural Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Zeweter Abebe & Kaleab Baye

  2. Department of Food Science and Technology, Botswana College of Agriculture, Gaborone, Botswana

    Gulelat Desse Haki

  3. Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology of Nutrition, Institute of Nutritional Science, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Florian J. Schweigert & Ina M. Henkel

Authors
  1. Zeweter Abebe
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  2. Gulelat Desse Haki
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  3. Florian J. Schweigert
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  4. Ina M. Henkel
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  5. Kaleab Baye
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zeweter Abebe or Kaleab Baye.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

FS is the founder and share-holder of BioAnalyt, iCheckFluoro producing company. The remaining authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics

Ethical approval was obtained from the Human Ethics Committees of the College of Natural Sciences (Addis Ababa University) and National Research Ethics Committees, Ethiopia. The purpose and methods of the study had been explained to the women. Verbal informed consent was obtained in the presence of local health community workers. The questionnaires were first prepared in English, then were back-translated to the local language (Amharic) to ensure the accuracy of the translation.

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Abebe, Z., Haki, G.D., Schweigert, F.J. et al. Low breastmilk vitamin A concentration is prevalent in rural Ethiopia. Eur J Clin Nutr 73, 1110–1116 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0334-4

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