Abstract
Beriberi, which was considered a disease of the past, reappeared around 1973. Recently, cases of severe lactic acidosis induced by vitamin B1 deficiency during total parenteral nutrition have been reported. Diagnosis of vitamin B1 deficiency requires on assay and standard values for human blood vitamin B1. We standardized measurement of whole blood vitamin B1 levels using three HPLC techniques (post-column reversed-phase HPLC, pre-column reversed-phase HPLC, and pre-column GP-HPLC). The reference range was obtained in 54 volunteers administered a 1,800 kcal diet with 2 mg of vitamin B1 (1.74mg measured) daily to avoid marginal vitamin B1 deficiency in the population. The range for each assay was 26-47ng/ml, 28-51ng/ml and 28-56ng/ml, respectively. Our data suggest that 26-28ng/ml is the lower limit of normal for whole blood vitamin B1, but further studies in a larger population are needed to obtain more definitive results.
