Vitamin A and its association with inflammatory disease from dry off through the fresh period

Abstract

Vitamin A is an essential nutrient and is well established to be crucial for regulating hematopoiesis, epithelial integrity, vision, and embryogenesis. In humans, vitamin A deficiency is associated with increased risk of morbidity, mortality, and a decreased immune response to vaccines. However, despite being the first vitamin discovered, little is known about its role in these outcomes in dairy cows. Dairy cows experience a significant decrease in serum vitamin A concentrations at the time of calving when cows are most at risk for disease. Previous study findings show conflicting results as to the effects of vitamin A and diseases such as mastitis in dairy cows. However, many studies with negative results are limited by their small sample size and short study period. The objective of this study was to investigate the associations between vitamin A and known disease biomarkers for fresh cow diseases as well as incidents of disease.