Dietary intake of vitamin A, lung function and incident asthma in childhood

• Published in: The European respiratory journal Vol. 58; no. 4; p. 2004407
• Main Authors: Talaei, Mohammad, Hughes, David A, Mahmoud, Osama, Emmett, Pauline M, Granell, Raquel, Guerra, Stefano, Shaheen, Seif O
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England European Respiratory Society 01.10.2021
• Subjects: Adolescent; Asthma - epidemiology; beta-Carotene 15,15'-Monooxygenase; Child; Eating; Forced Expiratory Volume; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Lung; Original s; Vital Capacity; Vitamin A
• ISSN: 0903-1936; 1399-3003; 1399-3003
• DOI: 10.1183/13993003.04407-2020

Longitudinal epidemiological data are scarce on the relationship between dietary intake of vitamin A and respiratory outcomes in childhood. We investigated whether a higher intake of preformed vitamin A or pro-vitamin β-carotene in mid-childhood is associated with higher lung function and with asthma risk in adolescence. In the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, dietary intakes of preformed vitamin A and β-carotene equivalents were estimated by food frequency questionnaire at 7 years of age. Post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV ), forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory flow at 25-75% of FVC (FEF ) were measured at 15.5 years and transformed to z-scores. Incident asthma was defined by new cases of doctor-diagnosed asthma at age 11 or 14 years. In multivariable adjusted models, a higher intake of preformed vitamin A was associated with higher lung function and a lower risk of incident asthma: comparing top bottom quartiles of intake, regression coefficients for FEV and FEF were 0.21 (95% CI 0.05-0.38; p =0.008) and 0.18 (95% CI 0.03-0.32; p =0.02), respectively; odds ratios for FEV /FVC below the lower limit of normal and incident asthma were 0.49 (95% CI 0.27-0.90; p =0.04) and 0.68 (95% CI 0.47-0.99; p =0.07), respectively. In contrast, there was no evidence for association with β-carotene. We also found some evidence for modification of the associations between preformed vitamin A intake and lung function by , and gene polymorphisms. A higher intake of preformed vitamin A, but not β-carotene, in mid-childhood is associated with higher subsequent lung function and lower risk of fixed airflow limitation and incident asthma.