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Improved Method for Measurement of Retinol and Didehydroretinol in the Modified Relative Dose Response Test to Detect Vitamin A Deficiency

¹ Institute of Biological Chemistry and Nutrition, University of Hohenheim, Garbenstrasse 30, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany

² Division of Nutrition, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Family Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, PO Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe

³ Craft Technologies 4344 Frank Price Church Rd., Wilson, NC 27893

^aAuthor for correspondence.

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

To the Editor:

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is one of the most devastating dietary deficiencies worldwide. It causes significant increases in childhood and maternal morbidity and mortality among the poor of the nonindustrialized world. Several methods are available to assess VAD. The determination of retinol in blood is one of the most frequently used methods, but it has several disadvantages. Serum retinol is decreased only in severe VAD when liver stores are nearly exhausted. In addition, infection depresses the retinol concentration in blood, possibly leading to misclassification of individuals.

Because the majority of vitamin A in the body is stored in the liver, tests have been developed to measure vitamin A stores that tend to provide more reliable information about vitamin A status. The two most common tests of this nature are the relative dose response test (RDR) and the modified RDR test (MRDR). Of these, the most practical method for field collection is the MRDR. This test has the advantage of requiring only one blood sample (1). An equivalent of 5.3 µmol . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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