RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommended amounts per day:

0-6 months: Vitamin A content of breast milk and children's intake form the basis for the recommendations.

7-12 months: Recommendations from 0-6 months adjusted for metabolic body weight (0,75 x body weight in kg), and intake of vitamin A from breast milk and other food.

1-17 years: Recommendations for adults adjusted for metabolic body weight.

Pregnant:
Adequate intake is estimated based on:

• accumulation av vitamin A in the liver of the foetus.
• that the liver contains approximately half of the body's total vitamin A content when liver stores are low (which is the case for foetuses and newborns)
• the assumption that the mother's vitamin A absorption is around 70 %.

The vitamin A content in the liver of newborns varies, but is approximately 1800 µg, giving a total of 3600 µg in the whole foetus. Vitamin A accumulation is highest in the last trimester, and in this period requirements will be (3600/90 = 40) approximately 50 µg higher per day. Recommendations in pregnancy is therefore set to 770 µg/day in the North-American recommendations and at 800 µg/day in the new Nordic recommendations.

Pregnant women are advised not to eat liver as a main meal due to the high concentration of retinyl ester in liver.

Lactating
Breast milk-fed children take in on average 400 µg vitamin A per day the first 6 months. Estimated average requirement is therefore set to 500 + 400 = 900 µg/day for lactating women, and the reference intake at 1200-1300 µg/day.

Elderly
For the elderly the retinol metabolism can be somewhat disturbed, e.g. among some a delayed removal of retinol from the plasma after a meal has been reported. But since there is no obvious risk of vitamin A deficiency or overdose in the elderly population, the reference intake is the same as for other adults.