Innate Immunity, Gut Integrity, and Vitamin A in Gambian and Indian Infants

Gut integrity, which can be measured by the urinary lactulose:mannitol excretion test, deteriorates with the introduction of weaning foods. In The Gambia, gut integrity measured monthly over 15 months in 119 infants (aged 2-15 months) was least impaired from April to June. This coincides with the time of year of maximum vitamin A (VA) intake-the mango season. Subsequently, two VA intervention studies were done in infants in India. Eighty infants attending a community health center received 16,700 IU weekly or placebo. In another study, 94 hospitalized infants were given 200, 000 IU VA or placebo: 31 received VA on admission, while the rest (32 VA, 31 placebo) received treatment on discharge. All VA-treated groups had more rapid improvement in gut integrity than the placebo groups, but no group had gut integrity normalized by Western standards. The data suggest that VA status may influence gut integrity.