Prevalence of hypercarotenaemia in nursery/kindergarten children in the Western province in Sri Lanka: a preliminary survey

Hypercarotenaemia is seen more frequently among young infants and children. This condition develops mainly due to excessive intake of carotenoid bearing foods. Evidence shows that, not all infants develop hypercarotenaemia due to excessive intake of carotenoid containing foods. The objective of this study was to study the prevalence of hypercarotenaemia among nursery/kindergarten children in the Western province of Sri Lanka and to correlate the food intake with development of hypercarotenaemia. The occurrence of hypercarotenaemia among their siblings fed similar diets was also observed. A self administrated questionnaire was given to the parents (n = 780) of nursery/kindergarten children (2-5 years) in the Western province to collect information on the intake of carotenoid rich foods and development of hypercarotenaemia among the children attending these nurseries and their siblings. Among all the subjects investigated twelve (n = 12) had developed hypercarotenaemia. Children fed with high carotenoid bearing food/fruits were categorized in to two groups depending on the whether they have received a vitamin A mega dose (n = 287) or not (n = 328). The prevalence of hypercarotenaemia among children fed high quantity of carotenoid foods (n = 615) was 2%, while the group fed with vitamin A mega dose and not fed vitamin A mega dose were 1.4% and 2.5% respectively. We suggest a genetic effect that is probably recessive, involved with absorption or the metabolism of carotenoids in children who develop hypercarotenaemia. In conclusion, the study showed the prevalence of hypercarotenaemia to be 2%, irrespective of the amount of carotenoids ingested and vitamin A mega dosing.