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Elderly Suffer Vitamin Depletion From Infection |
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Institutionalized or hospitalized elderly patients often have low levels of vitamins B6 and C. Such marginal deficiencies may stem from a combination of poor diet, changes in vitamin metabolism, reduced absorption from the intestinal tract or chronic disease. Pierre Pfitzenmeyer and colleagues from the Service de Medécine Gériatrique in Dijon, France, recently investigated another possible cause of low B6 and C levels--infections.
Their small, three-week study included three groups of patients ages 75 to 97. The groups consisted of eight patients with acute infection, four malnourished patients, and six control subjects. Researchers took blood samples from all subjects on days 0, 7, 14 and 21 to measure B6 and C levels.
At baseline, half of all patients had a B6 deficiency and 11 percent had a vitamin C deficiency. On days 7 and 14, plasma vitamin B6 levels were significantly lower in the infected and malnourished subjects than in the control group. Plasma vitamin C levels were significantly lower in people with infections than in both the malnourished and control subjects. The authors speculated that metabolic processes during infection likely speed up nutrient turnover.
These results show that acute infection does indeed depress levels of vitamins B6 and C. They also suggest that vitamin requirements should be raised for an elderly population already at risk for deficiencies. Correcting marginal vitamin levels might help break the cycle, wherein vitamin- deficient elderly people are more susceptible to infections and subsequent infections further deplete their vitamin stores.
Other studies are needed to determine if supplementing with vitamins B6 and C could both prevent and ameliorate infectious disease.
--Ann of Nutr & Metab, 41: 344-52, 1997
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