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Twelve babies, all three pounds or less at birth, were given vitamin E, beginning when they were about a week old. None of them has developed R.L.F. Of 17 others studied who did not get vitamin E, three began to show the early symptoms of the disease; so did four others who had weighed between three and four pounds. When vitamin A and iron were stopped, and vitamin E given to these seven, the disease was checked in four cases. This, cautioned Dr. William Owens, is "very encouraging, but not scientifically definite."
In a recent paper the Owenses warn: "Vitamin E supplements are of no value if not started...before the baby is six weeks of age, since by that time irreversible retinal changes have occurred." Thus in the case of the Hoffmann twins, it apparently was several months too late for vitamin E treatment when the babies were brought to New York. At Johns Hopkins, every baby under three pounds now gets alpha tocopherol when a week old, and until it passes the 5½-pound mark.