A new research has found the first direct evidence of a link between prenatal vitamin A deficiency and postnatal airway hyper responsiveness.
The study conducted by Columbia University Medical Center investigators have revealed that short-term deficit of this essential vitamin while the lung is forming can cause profound changes in the smooth muscle that surrounds the airways, causing the adult lungs to respond to environmental or pharmacological stimuli with excessive narrowing of airways.
Dr. Wellington V. Cardoso said that the research has shown that the presence of structural and functional abnormalities in the lungs due to vitamin A deficiency during development is an important and underappreciated factor in this susceptibility.
He added that their findings highlight a point often overlooked in adult medicine, which is that adverse fetal exposures that cause subtle changes in developing organs can have lifelong consequences.
The findings were published online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.