Do kids need Vit-A boosters? No, says NIN study

HYDERABAD:  A new National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) study has pointed out that the Central government needs to revisit its nationwide policy of Vitamin-A Supplementation (VAS) programme and make it more state-specific. This is keeping in mind the reduced national prevalence of Vitamin-A deficiency among children aged below five and the risk of hypervitaminosis caused by excess intake of the vitamin. 

The study was conducted by researchers from the Hyderabad-based NIN, St John’s Research Institute, Bengaluru and Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, New Delhi. The study results, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that the national prevalence of Vitamin-A deficiency risk is below 20 per cent in Indian children. 

NIN Director Dr R Hemalatha said, “The study draws on the sample of the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey(CNNS) which was conducted in 30 states during 2016-2018. The survey showed that VAD based on serum retinol levels was 15.7 per cent among one-five-year-old children across the country, certainly lesser than the 20 per cent mark that defines a serious public health problem”. 

The study also derived the estimated average requirement (EAR) as 198 micrograms per day for boys and 191 micrograms per day for girls, for assessing dietary adequacy of Vitamin A. Senior scientist at the NIN and lead author of the study, Dr Bhanuprakash Reddy said, “In addition to CNNS data, we also evaluated dietary vitamin A from data of the National SampleSurvey Office (NSSO) and the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB). When dietary intake, food fortification and Vitamin A supplementation are factored in, there indeed is a risk of exceeding the upper  limit of intake of  Vitamin A in a proportion of children particularly from higher  socio-economic status.” 

NAT’L PROG ‘OUTDATED’
Researchers point out that the VAS programme, started as the National Prophylaxis Program Against Nutritional Blindness in 1970, to prevent nutritional blindness among children by providing mega doses of Vitamin-A, must be rethought