PENILAIAN STATUS VITAMIN A SECARA BIOKIMIA

VITAMIN A ASSESSMENT BY BIOCHEMICAL METHODS Vitamin A has an important preventive effects on maternal and child mortality. Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is one of the most devastating dietary deficiencies. Several methods are available to assess VAD. Tradisionally, clinical signs and symptoms of xerophthalmia were used to identify the severity of population with vitamin A deficiency. Biochemical assessment methods available which include serum retinol, serum retinol binding protein, serum retinyl ester, serum carotenoids, dose response test, the deuterated retinol isotope dilution test and breast milk retinol concentrations. The determination of of retinol in blood (serum retinol concentrations) is one of the most frequently used methods, have been used extensively to identify populations at risk of vitamin A deficiency. However, this method has several limitations. The major drawback of serum retinol is taking blood samples are required. Beside that, serum retinol is decreased only in sever VAD, when liver stores are nearly exhausted. Because the majority of vitamin A in the body is stored in the liver, then the tests to measure vitamin A stores should be developed in order to know the vitamin A status. Vitamin A concentration in breast milk is a prospective indicator of VAD. Breast milk collection is less invasive and usually easier than blood drawing, do not have to be further processed at the field station, thus shortening sample preparation. For the future indicator of vitamin A, methods that are in development include using isotope dilution. Keywords : breast milk retinol, serum retinol, vitamin A analysis