In a community-based double-blind randomized trial in children aged 6-35 months, both intervention and control groups received a multi-vitamin syrup containing vitamin A, while the intervention group had zinc gluconate (equivalent to 10 mg of elemental zinc) additional in the syrup. There was a significant decrease in diarrhoea and pneumonia in the intervention group. This study was undertaken to investigate if addition of zinc to vitamin A had improved plasma retinol levels, which, in turn, was responsible for the effects observed in the intervention group. In a randomly-selected subsample of 200 children--100 each from the intervention and the control group, plasma retinol levels after 120 days of supplementation were measured. There was no difference in the mean plasma retinol levels [the difference in the mean 0.46 microg/dL (95% confidence interval -1.42-2.36)] between the two groups following supplementation. No difference in plasma retinol levels was observed in the subgroups based on base-line nutritional status and plasma zinc levels. Addition of zinc to low-dose vitamin A in this study did not improve the vitamin A status of children and cannot explain morbidity effects of the intervention.