Main description:

It is the purpose of this book to try to offer a modern perspective on the importance of vitamins in human biology and medicine.

There have been recent revivals of attempts to use vitamins as therapeutic agents by administering doses many times the recommended allowance. This use or 'megavitamin therapy' is reviewed by Dr. Reynold Spector, with particular emphasis on vitamin entry to the central nervous system. Of related interest is the chapter by Dr. John Blass discussing central nervous system manifestations of thiamin deficiency, and also the contribution by Ms. Fiona Cumming and clinical toxicity of vitamin supplementation.

Contents:

Chapter 1

Laboratory Tests for the Assessment of Vitamin Nutritional Status

Chapter 2

Oral Contraceptives and Vitamin Status

Chapter 3

Vitamin Status of the Elderly

Chapter 4

Effects on Plasma Cholesterol of Nicotinic Acid and its Analogues

Chapter 5

Plasma Lipids and Vitamin C

Chapter 6

Thiamin and the Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome

Chapter 7

Megavitamin Therapy and the Central Nervous System

Chapter 8

Retinoic Acid in Dermatology

Chapter 9

Clinical Toxicology of Vitamins

Index