Whole Blood and Plasma Ascorbic Acid Concentrations in Patients with Pellagra and Associated Deficiency Diseases. ∗

Abstract

Summary and Conclusions

Whole blood and plasma ascorbic acid determinations made on 70 patients in the nutrition clinic of the Hillman Hospital indicate that 55 of these persons had a whole blood concentration of ascorbic acid lower than in normal controls. In 8 of the 70 cases, the concentration was so low as to suggest that depletion may have been advanced. Most of these patients had clinical evidence of other deficiencies, such as pellagra, beriberi and riboflavin deficiency, but no significant correlation could be made between the blood ascorbic acid values and the symptoms of these deficiency states, nor indeed of scurvy itself. These observations seem pertinent in view of the fact that they were made in late June, at a period when leafy vegetables and berries had been available to the patients for some time, and probably indicate that ascorbic acid deficiency is still greater at other periods. These studies give strong support to the concept that natural-occurring deficiency diseases exist as complexities rather than as single entities.