Comparison of this study with the previous study of breast-feeding women
Changes in serum retinol and carotenoid concentrations in the vegetable group of the present study were higher than those in the vegetable group of our previous study (5). For both the previous and the present study, the change in the control group was subtracted from the change in the vegetable group: 0.04 (not different from control group) and 0.07 mmol/L for retinol, 0.05 and 0.11 mmol/L for b-carotene, and 0.11 and 0.27 mmol/L for lutein, respectively. The amount of carotenoids provided was the same in both studies. Several factors might explain the larger increments in the children in the present study than in the women in the previous study (5): 1) the children received the vegetables
in 2 meals whereas the women received them in 1 meal; 2) the intensity of Ascaris infestation was lower in the children
[median: 4720 eggs per gram feces (epg); 25th–75th percentiles: 610–16 990 epg] than in the women (13 020 epg; 1580–40 540 epg); and 3) requirements for vitamin A intake are lower for children than for breast-feeding women because children are smaller and do not secrete vitamin A through breast milk.