TISSUE THIAMIN LEVELS OF HOSPITALISED ALCOHOLICS BEFORE AND AFTER ORAL OR PARENTERAL VITAMINS

A new high performance liquid chromatographic method has beenused to measure erythrocyte levels of the physiologically activeform of thiamin, thiamin diphosphate (ETDP), in 25 alcoholicsadmitted to hospital for detoxification and rehabilitation.Measurements were made before, during and after multivitaminsupplementation, either orally or parenterally, on a controlledbasis. Before treatment, only one case of thiamin deficiencywas detected. Within 24 hr of receiving 250 mg of thiamin bothtreated groups showed an increase in their mean ETDP levels,though only that of the parenterally treated group was significantlyhigher (P<0.05) than the pre-treatment mean. However, after250 mg thiamin daily for 5 days, both treated groups showeda significant (P<0.05) and almost identical increase in theirmean ETDP levels (90 nmol/l. and 91 nmol/l. for the oral andparenteral routes respectively). The results suggest that exceptfor alcoholics requiring thiamin urgently, for whom the parenteralroute is demonstrably quicker at raising tissue levels, oralsupplementation achieves the same result as parenteral.