DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2015.v03i01.013

Pages: 66-70

Vitamin A deficiency is a serious nutritional and health problem affecting most developing countries. The objectives of this work are to assess the dietary intakes and biochemical status of vitamin A among adolescents population in Kano Nigeria. Dietary assessment was conducted using 24 hour dietary recall and biochemical assay of vitamin A was performed using a High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Findings from this study revealed the overall energy intake (EI) to be higher (p<0.05) among male (2014.4±194.6kcal) than their female (1441.1±169.3kcal) counterparts. Intakes of vitamin A represent only 14% of the total energy intakes in females and 15% in male respectively. Mean vitamin A concentration from this study (female: 15.55±6.14μg/dL and male: 15.74±6.33μg/dL) indicated a moderate deficiency among our study population irrespective of their age groups. This deficiency is of public health importance; if not arrested progresses into the adulthood and will ultimately affect negatively all facets of development in the community. Therefore, there is urgent need for public enlightenment and provision of supplements to avert the scourge of VAD.