VITAMINS

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Thiamine levels of 24 hour's urine samples and of blood samples (total thiamine in whole blood) were determined by a conventional thiochrome method after treatment with activated Permutit. Average levels of the urine samples collected from 13 women in summer and winter were 164±121 μg and 166±134 μg, respectively. Urinary thiamine levels of 6 out of 37 samples (17%) were less than 30 μg. Most of the samples containing such low levels of thiamine were those from self-boarding students cooking for themselves. In the cases of such students, average urinary thiamine level was 60±56μg (37 samples) and 30% of the samples contained the vitamin less than 30 μg. Average blood thiamine level was 41±30 ng/ml (15 samples). Nearly half the samples showed lower levels than 40 ng/ml. Hemoglobin contents were less than normal levels in more than half the samples. Diastolic blood pressure was significantly low and patella reflex was poor in some of the students. However, no indications enough to diagnose them as beriberi were obtained. It was presumed that they would be in subclinically thiamine-deficient state.

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A competitive protein binding assay for 25-OH-D and 24,25-(OH)_2-D has been described using the binding protein from rats fed a low calcium, vitamin D-deficient diet. As some vitamin D-metabolites which possess hydroxyl group at C-25 position interact with the binding protein, possible interference by these compounds in the assay has been overcome by preparative chromatography of serum extracts on Sephadex LH-20 and/or high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) prior to assay. The sensitivity of the assay for 24,25-(OH)_2-D significantly improved when used [^3H]-25-OH-D_3 with specific activity of 110 Ci/mmol as the tracer, and 1 ml of serum was enough for the assay. Ten blood samples were collected from healthy Japanese adult volunteers in July. The mean serum level of 25-OH-D was 32.5±4.5 ng/ml without any chromatographic preparation, 22.1±4.8 ng/ml with Sephadex LH-20, and 19.0±3.4 ng/ml with Sephadex LH-20 and HPLC, respectively. The concentration of 24,25-(OH)_2-D was 1.28±0.32 ng/ml (approximately 6% of the 25-OH-D level).

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