By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n
Jack Norris, RD, a vegan dietitian and author, recently contacted me to ask if there have been any studies of the amount of vitamin A in breast milk from vegan women. There are no published reports of studies of the vitamin A content of vegan breast milk. Although vitamin A is only found in nature in animal products, plants contain precursors of vitamin A including beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin. Humans are able to convert these carotenoids into active vitamin A.<\/p>\n
Breastfed babies could get the essential nutrient in several ways:<\/p>\n
The first scenario clearly takes place and is relevant for vegans. Lactating women who are given foods high in beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, have more vitamin A in their breast milk (1,2). If a breastfeeding woman has generous amounts of beta-carotene in her diet, it is likely that her baby will have adequate vitamin A status (3). This is the most likely way that breastfed infants of vegan women get adequate vitamin A.<\/p>\n
The second scenario is not really an option for vegans, at least in terms of food sources of vitamin A. Vitamin A is only naturally found in foods derived from animals. Supplemental vitamin A may be synthetic or derived from animals (4). Vegan supplements containing a mix of vitamin A and vitamin A precursors are available.<\/p>\n
The third scenario seems possible but we don\u2019t know for sure that it takes place. The first step \u2013 vitamin A precursors appear in milk \u2013 definitely happens (1, 2, 5) but we don\u2019t know for certain that babies are able to make vitamin A from precursors of vitamin A (6). It doesn\u2019t really matter since mothers are clearly able to make vitamin A from plant precursors.<\/p>\n
The bottom line – Vegan women who are breastfeeding should make sure that their diet includes good sources of precursors of vitamin A. These are foods rich in beta-carotene such as winter squash, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, and green leafy vegetables. Dietary fat is needed to promote beta-carotene absorption so it is important that lactating women not overly limit dietary fat.<\/p>\n
References: By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD Jack Norris, RD, a vegan dietitian and author, recently contacted me to ask if there have been any studies of the amount of vitamin A in breast milk from vegan women. There are no published reports of studies of the vitamin A content of vegan breast milk. Although vitamin A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nutrition","category-pregnancy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4530"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4541,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4530\/revisions\/4541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n1. Khan NC, West CE, de Pee S, Bosch D, Phuong HD, Hulshof PJ, Khoi HH, Verhoef H, Hautvast JG. The contribution of plant foods to the vitamin A supply of lactating women in Vietnam: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Apr;85(4):1112-20.
\n2. Haskell MJ. The challenge to reach nutritional adequacy for vitamin A: Beta-carotene bioavailability and conversion – evidence in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012;96(suppl):1193S-203S.
\n3. Canfield LM, Taren DL, Kaminsky RG, Mahal Z. Short-term beta-carotene supplementation of lactating mothers consuming diets low in vitamin A. J Nutr Biochem. 1999 Sep;10(9):532-8.
\n4. Yacoubou J. Vegetarian Journal\u2019s Guide to Food Ingredients. http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/ingredients\/index.php#vitamin_a<\/a>
\n5. Canfield LM, Guiliano AM, Neilson EM, Blashill BM, Graver EJ, Yap HH. Kinetics of the response of milk and serum \u03b2-carotene to daily \u03b2-carotene supplementation in healthy, lactating women. Am J Clin Nutr 1998;67:276\u201383.
\n6. Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Zinc. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"