AQUEOUS DISPERSIONS OF VITAMINS A AND D IN PREMATURE INFANTS: Studies with Reference to Rickets and Retrolental Fibroplasia

THE PURPOSE of this investigation was to evaluate the results obtained in the management of premature infants who received vitamin A and D supplements in aqueous dispersions, as compared with the results obtained in premature infants who received vitamin A and D supplements in oily solution. Special attention was paid to rickets and retrolental fibroplasia. Diminished intestinal absorption of fat-soluble vitamin A in the premature and newborn infant has been established. 1 This may explain why Shelling and Hopper 2 found that higher doses of synthetic oleovitamin D (viosterol) are needed for the prevention of rickets in the premature infant than in the older child. In 1946 a paper from this laboratory reported that vitamin A is more readily absorbed from an aqueous than from an oily medium. 3 This observation has since been amply confirmed. 4 It is of special significance in the management of the premature, since