Breast milk immune factors in Bangladeshi women supplemented postpartum with retinol or β-carotene

Background Vitamin A supplementation of mothers postpartum may improve infant health, not only by increasing vitamin A delivery to the infant through breast milk but also by increasing delivery of milk immune factors. Our hypothesis was that postpartum supplementation with vitamin A increases milk concentrations of certain soluble immune factors. Design In a double-blind trial conducted in Matlab, Bangladesh, women at 1-3 wk postpartum were randomly assigned to receive until 9 mo postpartum 1) a single dose of 60 mg retinol as retinyl palmitate followed by daily placebos (n = 69), 2) daily doses of 7.6 mg beta-carotene (n = 72), or 3) daily placebos (n = 71). Milk samples collected at baseline and 3 mo postpartum were analyzed by…