One of 21st century’s most costly chronic diseases may be prevented by increased vitamin A intake

A new article, published in British Journal of Nutrition (March 2017) by Danish Diabetes Academy PhD student Amélie Cléo Keller, shows that fetal exposure to small, extra amounts of vitamin A from food fortification may reduce the risk of T2DM.

POPULATION

The study population, as extracted from the Danish Civil Registration System, included individuals born in Denmark during similar time windows before and after the vitamin A fortification policy change of 1962 that increased the amount of vitamin A added to margarine by 25%.

ANALYSES

Logistic regression analyses were performed. Additional analyses with different age of inclusion cut-offs were also performed to assess the effect of the fortification among different age groups: 40 and 44 years old. Furthermore, Cox regression analyses were also performed as sensitivity analyses.

FUTURE IMPLICATIONS

The results indicate that small extra amounts of vitamin A from food fortification consumed by pregnant women may be sufficient to reduce the risk of T2DM in their offspring.

The results may have public health relevance, especially in vitamin A-deficient populations, as they demonstrate that one of twenty-first century’s most costly chronic diseases may be prevented by increased vitamin A intake through food fortification, which is a simple and affordable public health nutrition intervention.

AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS

Keller A^{1, 2}, Ängquist L³, Jacobsen R¹, Vaag A⁴, Heitmann BL^{1,5, 6, 7}

¹Research Unit for Dietary Studies, The Parker Institute and Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg University Hospitals, Frederiksberg, Denmark
²Danish Diabetes Academy, Odense, Denmark
³Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Frederiksberg, Denmark
⁴AstraZeneca, CardioVascular and Metabolic Diseases (CVMD) Translational Medical Unit (TMU),  Mölndal,Sweden
⁵The Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders, University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia
⁶The National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark,  Copenhagen, Denmark
⁷Institute of Public Health, Section for General Practice, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark

Source: British Journal of Nutrition