Vitamin A and C Nutrition in Children, and their Physical Condition

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Abstract
Of 400 school children 9-14 yrs. of age, half received as daily supplements to their usual diet 5 days a wk. 4,000 I. U. of vit. A, 350 of vit. B complex, 1,000 of ascorbic acid, 600 I. U. of vit. D, 2 mg. of riboflavin and 20 of nicotinamide, the other half capsules containing no vits. Three mos. later all were given an ascorbic acid saturation test and a dark adaptation test. Detns. were also made of blood ascorbic acid and in cases of severe deficiency, of the content of the white-cell layer. Dietary intakes of both ascorbic acid and vit. A were calculated from family records kept for a period of 3 wks. All subjects receiving the vit. supplement were saturated with respect to ascorbic acid, while 72% of the group without it were saturated; in 36 of them blood ascorbic acid was below 0.3 mg./lOO ml. and they required 5-7 test doses for saturation. Only 25% of the subjects had a daily ascorbic acid intake of over 30 mg.; 35 were between 15 and 30 mg.; and 40% below 15 mg. In the supplemented group no case could be classed as definitely deficient in vit. A; in the other group 16% were definitely deficient. The dietary intake of vit. A was less than 20 I. U./kg. in 7%; 20-30 in 20%; and over 50 I. U./kg. in 50%. As to the effects of vit. A and C deficiency on the physical condition of selected children in both groups, no significant differences as detd. by "T" values were found in % gains in height and in strength, but significant differences were found in the % gains in wt. of the group deficient in vit. A and the saturated group, in endurance of the groups deficient in ascorbic acid alone or combined with deficiency in vit. A at the end as compared with the beginning of the exptl. period, and in total energy at the end of the period for all of the deficient groups as compared with the normal. There were no significant differences in the serum complement, the phosphatase content of the plasma, and the incidence of gingivitis between the subjects deficient in ascorbic acid and the normal, but a significant difference in the incidence of infection between the group deficient in both vit. A and ascorbic acid and the normal group.