Introduction: evidence indicates that vitamin A is involved in regulating fat mass. A low consumption of vitamin A has been reported in individuals with obesity, as have lower concentrations of this vitamin, than in eutrophic individuals when their dietary intake of vitamin A is not significantly different.
Objective: to investigate vitamin A nutritional status and its association with body mass index (BMI) and body fat in women who have the recommended dietary intake of vitamin A.
Methods: cross-sectional study with 200 women, paired by age and by the dietary intake of vitamin A recommended. Participants were divided into four groups, according to BMI. Anthropometric data were evaluated (weight, BMI and waist circumference [WC]), as well as the diagnosis of night blindness (NB). Lipid and glycemic profiles were measured. The cut-off points for deficiency of serum concentrations of retinol and β-carotene were < 1.05 μmol/l and 40 μg/dl, respectively. The recommended dietary intake of vitamin A was 700 μg/day. RESULTS: there was a significant drop in retinol concentrations according to BMI (p < 0.001) and WC (p < 0.001). We found β-carotene to behave similarly (p = 0.005; p < 0.001). We found NB in 7.5% of overweight (OW) cases and 20.0% of obesity class II (OII), and no functional alteration was found in the eutrophic group (EU). Inadequate levels of retinol and β-carotene increased the odds ratio for the occurrence of OW, obesity class I (OI) and OII, as well as inadequate WC.
Conclusion: even with recommended intake of vitamin A, we found a biochemical and functional inadequacy of vitamin A nutritional status,associated with overweight, obesity and body adiposity.