The Role of Vitamin A in the Occurrence of Goitre on the Island of Krk, Yugoslavia

Abstract
In investigating goitre in Croatia the authors met with a large percentage of goitre on the island of Krk in the northern Adriatic, where extensive investigations of the causes of this occurrence (clinical examinations of school children, biochemical analyses, examination of water for the content of iodine, nutrition survey) were carried out. The small quantity of vitamin A in the diet of the population induced the authors to investigate the influence of vitamin A on the occurrence of goitre. For this purpose an experiment was carried out at a school on the island of Krk. Children 7 to 10 years of age were given 3,000 I.U. of vitamin A daily for three months, and it was established that goitre in this group had decreased by 44%, whereas no change was noticed in a control group. On the basis of this investigation the authors consider goitre to be the result of a complex nutritional deficiency and that in addition to lack of iodine, a deficiency of vitamin A plays an important role as well.

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