Maternal Dietary Vitamin A Is Crucial for Fetal Lung Development

Animal studies have shown that vitamin A plays a key role in fetal pulmonary development. To determine whether this effect holds for humans, investigators performed spirometry on 1371 children (age range, 9–13 years) of Nepalese mothers who had participated in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of vitamin A or beta carotene supplementation before, during, and after pregnancy.

In children whose mothers received vitamin A, forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁) values were higher by a mean of 46 mL than in children of mothers who received placebo (P=0.03). FEV₁ of children whose mothers received beta carotene supplementation was, on average, only 14 mL higher than in the placebo group (P=0.47). Children's adjusted FEV₁ and forced vita…