Vitamin A and carotene levels of a selected population in metropolitan Washington, D. C

Abstract

Liver samples obtained from subjects who died acute traumatic deaths or who died from various diseases in metropolitan Washington, D.C. were analyzed for vitamin A and carotene. Children under 2 months old had the lowest mean liver concentrations of vitamin A and carotene; children from 2 months to 10 years old and adults over 70 years old had the highest mean concentrations. Of the samples analyzed, 24% had less than 50 µg vitamin A/g liver and 3.3% of the samples had over 1,000 µg/g. Mean values of 211 µg of vitamin A/g and 5.6 µg of carotene/g were found in the livers of accident victims. The black male had a considerably lower concentration of vitamin A and carotene than did other groups within certain age ranges. Diseases, especially hepatic disease, appear to present an additional burden on vitamin A reserves. The large percentage of low levels of vitamin A found can probably be ascribed to some nutritional inadequacies, whereas the high levels may be due to the wide use of vitamin supplements by infants, children, and adults over 70 years old.