Filed at 12:01 a.m. ET

CHICAGO (AP) -- Vitamin A supplements could help improve growth in children in developing countries with HIV, malaria and persistent diarrhea, a study in Tanzania found.

Delayed growth and vitamin A deficiency in infants and young children are major public health problems in developing countries, where infectious diseases like AIDS and malaria also are common.

The results show that vitamin A supplements ``could constitute a low-cost, effective intervention to decrease the burden of growth retardation in settings where infectious disease are highly prevalent,'' says the report in January's Pediatrics.

Dr. Eduardo Villamor of Harvard University and researchers at Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences in Dar es Salaam followed 554 Tanzanian children for up to 12 months.

Participants were 6 months to 5 years old at the outset; 24 percent had malaria and 9 percent were HIV-infected. All were initially hospitalized with pneumonia and received two doses of vitamin A. Most also got two more doses four months apart after they were released.

The doses -- 200,000 international units or 100,000 for infants -- were much higher than recommended daily childhood doses but were within the supplement ranges recommended by international aid agencies, Villamor said. While high doses of vitamin A can cause severe side effects including liver damage, he said none were found in the study.

Four months after the first dose, height increases were particularly large among HIV-infected infants, who grew an average of an inch more than HIV-infected infants who got placebo supplements. This difference remained constant throughout the study, the researchers said.

Thin children who got the supplements gained an average of about one pound more than those taking placebos, with a slightly greater difference among infants with malaria.

In addition, the risk of stunted growth associated with episodes of persistent diarrhea lasting 14 or more days during follow-up was virtually eliminated by vitamin A supplements, the researchers said.

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