Vitamin A is a crucial micronutrient for pregnant women and their fetuses. In addition to being essential for morphological and functional development and for ocular integrity, vitamin A exerts systemic effects on several fetal organs and on the fetal skeleton. Vitamin A requirements during pregnancy are therefore greater. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) remains the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world. VAD in pregnant women is a public health issue in most developing countries. In contrast, in some developed countries, excessive vitamin A intake during pregnancy can be a concern since, when in excess, this micronutrient may exert teratogenic effects in the first 60 days following conception. Routine prenatal vitamin A supplementation for the prevention of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality is not recommended; however, in regions where VAD is a public health issue, vitamin A supplementation is recommended to prevent night blindness. Given the importance of this topic and the lack of a complete, up-to-date review on vitamin A and pregnancy, an extensive review of the literature was conducted to identify conflicting or incomplete data on the topic as well as any gaps in existing data.
Vitamin A and Pregnancy: A Narrative Review
Sabina Bastos Maia,A. S. Rolland Souza,Maria de Fátima Costa Caminha,Suzana Lins da Silva,Rachel de Sá Barreto Luna Callou Cruz,Camila Carvalho Dos Santos,M. Batista Filho
Published 2019 in Nutrients
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PUBLICATION RECORD
- Publication year
2019
- Venue
Nutrients
- Publication date
2019-03-01
- Fields of study
Medicine
- Identifiers
- External record
- Source metadata
Semantic Scholar, PubMed
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