Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-qdpjg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-24T15:18:44.509Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Vitamin Deficiency and the Psychoses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

W. Alex Caldwell  and
S. W. Hardwick
W. Alex Caldwell
Affiliation:
West Park Hospital, Epsom
S. W. Hardwick
Affiliation:
West Park Hospital, Epsom
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A state of vitamin deficiency arises (i) when inadequate amounts of a vitamin (or vitamins) are ingested, (ii) when absorption from the alimentary canal is defective or interfered with, (iii) when storage mechanisms are at fault, e.g. liver disease, and (iv) when the tissue cells themselves are unable to utilize the vitamin (i, 2). With war rationing the first factor is likely to be commoner than heretofore, especially in alcoholics (3), patients maintaining a strict “peptic ulcer diet” over long periods (4), diabetics (2), mothers sacrificing their rations for the family, food faddists, and in people living alone and doing their own cooking (5). Nowadays many exist on a “borderline” diet, in whom any stress such as pregnancy, infection, surgical procedure, fracture, hyperthyroidism, etc., will precipitate a deficiency state; moreover, in chronic gastro-intestinal disorders the available vitamins may be lost or destroyed (6-14).

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Mental Science , Volume 90 , Issue 378 , January 1944 , pp. 95 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1944 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

(1) Hsü, Y. K. (1942), “Pathologic Anatomy of Human Nervous System in Avitaminosis,” Arch. Neur. and Psychiat., 48, 271.Google Scholar
(2) Aring, C. D., and Spies, T. D. (1939), “Vitamin B Deficiency and Nervous Disease,” J. Neur. Psychiat., 2, 335.Google Scholar
(3) Jolliffe, N., Wortis, H., and Stein, M. H. (1941–42), “Vitamin Deficiencies and Liver Cirrhosis,” Quart. J. Stud., Alcohol., 2, 73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(4) Rosenblum, L. A., and Jolliffe, N. (1941), “The Oral Manifestations of Vitamin Deficiencies,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 117, 2245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(5) Sydenstricker, V. P., and Sinclair, H. M. (1943), “The Neurological Complications of Malnutrition,” Proc. Roy. Soc. Med., 36, 169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
(6)Conference on Therapy (1939), “Vitamins: Vitamin B2 Therapy,” special article, J. Am. Med. Ass., 113, 297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(7) Sydenstricker, V. P. (1941), “The Clinical Manifestations of Nicotinic Acid and Riboflavin Deficiency (Pellagra),” Ann. Int. Med., 14, 1499.Google Scholar
(8) Bean, W. B., Spies, T. D., and Blankenhorn, M. A. (1942), “The Incidence of Pellagra in Ohio Hospitals,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 118, 1176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(9) Davidson, L. S. P. (1941), “Some Nutritional Deficiencies in Man,” Lancet, ii, 121.Google Scholar
(10) McLester, J. S. (1939), “Borderline States of Nutritive Failure,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 112, 2110.Google Scholar
(11) Willie, J. A. (1940), “Some of the Uses of Vitamin B1 in Neurology and Psychiatry,” South. Med. J., 33, 1056.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(12) Leitner, Z. A. (1942), “The Physiology of the Small Intestine: Its Application to the Aetiology of Sprue,” Trop. Dis. Bull., 39, 497.Google Scholar
(13) Aring, C. D., Evans, J. P., and Spies, T. D. (1939), “Some Clinical Neurological Aspects of Vitamin B Deficiencies,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 113, 2105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(14) Russell, W. R. (1939), “Discussion on the Neurological Complications of Pregnancy,” Proc. Roy. Soc. Med., 32, 581.Google Scholar
(15) Jolliffe, N. (1941), “The Treatment of Neuropsychiatric Disorders with Vitamins,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 117, 1496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(16) Sydenstricker, V. P. (1941), “The Clinical Manifestations of Ariboflavinosis,” Am. J. Pub. Health, 31, 344.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
(17) Spies, T. D., Ladisch, R. K., and Bean, W. B. (1940), “Vitamin B4 (Pyridoxin) Deficiency in Human Beings,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 115, 839.Google Scholar
(18) Sydenstricker, V. P., Singal, S. A., Briggs, A. P., De Vaughn, and Harris, I. (1942), “Observations on the ‘Egg-white’ Injury in Man,” ibid., 118, 1199.Google Scholar
(19) Eddy, W. H., and Dalldorf, G. (1941), The Avitaminoses. Google Scholar
(20) Youmans, J. B. (1941), The Nutritional Deficiencies. Google Scholar
(21) Ruffin, J. M. (1941), “The Diagnosis and Treatment of Mild Vitamin Deficiencies,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 117, 1493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(22) Jolliffe, N., Goodhart, R., Gennis, J., and Cline, J. K. (1939), “The Experimental Production of Vitamin B1 Deficiency in the Normal Subject,” Am. J. Med. Sci., 198, 198.Google Scholar
(23) Spies, T. D., Vilter, R. W., and Ashe, W. F. (1939), “Pellagra, Beri-beri and Riboflavin Deficiency in Human Beings,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 113, 931.Google Scholar
(24) Wortis, H. (1941), “Some Nutritional Aspects of Brain Metabolism,” Psychiat. Quart., 15, 693.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(25) Williams, R. D., Mason, H. L., Wilder, R. M., and Smith, B. F. (1940), “Observations on Induced Thiamine (Vitamin B1) Deficiency in Man,” Arch. Int. Med., 66, 785.Google Scholar
(26) Williams, R. D., Mason, H. L., Smith, B. F., and Wilder, R. M. (1942), “Induced Thiamine Deficiency and the Thiamine Requirement of Man,” ibid., 69, 721.Google Scholar
(27) O'Shea, H. E., Elsom, K. O., and Higbe, R. V. (1942), “Studies of the B Vitamins in the Human Subject: Mental Changes in Experimental Deficiency,” Am. J. Med. Sci., 203, 388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(28) Campbell, A. C. P., and Russell, W. R. (1941), “Wernicke's Encephalopathy: The Clinical Features and their Probable Relationship to Vitamin B Deficiency,” Quart. J. Med., 10 (37), 41.Google Scholar
(29) Jolliffe, N., and Wortis, H. (1941), “Encephalopathia Alcoholica. An Evaluation of Vitamin Therapy,” Am. J. Psychiat., 98, 340.Google Scholar
(30) Campbell, A. C. P., and Biggart, J. H. (1939), “Wernicke's Encephalopathy: its Alcoholic and Non-alcoholic Incidence,” J. Path. Bact., 48, 245.Google Scholar
(31) Alexander, L., Pijoan, M., and Myerson, A. (1938), “Beri-beri and Scurvy,” Tr. Am. Neur. Ass., 64, 135.Google Scholar
(32) Alexander, L. (1940), “Wernicke's Disease,” Am. J. Path., 16, 61.Google Scholar
(33) Idem (1941–42), “Neuropathological Findings in the Brain and Spinal Cord of Chronic Alcoholic Patients,” Quart. J. Stud. Alcohol., 2, 260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(34) Jolliffe, N., and Wortis, H. (1941), “The Wernicke Syndrome,” Arch. Neur. Psychiat., 46, 569.Google Scholar
(35) Moore, M. T. (1942), “An Evaluation of Vitamin B Therapy in Neurological and Psychiatric Conditions,” Med. Rec., 155, 305 and 329.Google Scholar
(36) Rosenbaum, M., and Merritt, H. H. (1939), “Korsakow's Syndrome,” Arch. Neur. Psychiat., 41, 978.Google Scholar
(37) Weiss, S. (1941), Cecil's Textbook of Medicine. W. B. Saunders Co., p. 602.Google Scholar
(38) Bowman, K. M., and Jellinek, E. M. (1941–42), “Alcoholic Mental Disorders,” Quart. J. Stud. Alcohol., 2, 312.Google Scholar
(39) Fein, H. D., Ralli, E. P., and Jolliffe, N. (1940), “Peripheral Neuropathy due to Vitamin B1 Deficiency in Diabetes Mellitus,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 115, 1973.Google Scholar
(40) Goodhart, R., and Jolliffe, N. (1938), “Effects of Vitamin B (B1) Therapy on the Polyneuritis of Alcohol Addicts,” ibid., 110, 414.Google Scholar
(41) Williams, R. D., Mason, H. L., Power, M. H., and Wilder, R. M. (1943), “Induced Thiamine Deficiency in Man,” Arch. Int. Med., 71, 38.Google Scholar
(42) Zillhardt, J. C., Howard, I., and Murphy, W. P. (1941), “Effect of Vitamin B Complex on the Residual Neurological Disturbances of Pernicious Anaemia,” ibid., 15, 44.Google Scholar
(43) Greenfield, J. G., and Carmichael, E. A. (1935), “The Peripheral Nerves in Cases of Subacute Combined Degeneration of the Cord,” Brain, 58, 483.Google Scholar
(44) Davis, L. J., Davidson, L. S. P., Riding, D., and Shaw, G. E. (1943), “Treatment of Pernicious Anaemia with an Experimental Proteolysed Liver Preparation,” B.M.J., i, 655.Google Scholar
(45) Manson-Bahr, P. (1940), “Glossitis and Vitamin B Complex in Pellagra, Sprue and Allied States,” Lancet, ii, 317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(46) György, P. (1942), “The Water Soluble Vitamins,” Ann. Rev. Biochem., 11, 309.Google Scholar
(47) McAlpine, D., and Hills, G. M. (1941), “The Clinical Value of the Thiochrome Test for Aneurin (Vitamin B1) in Urine,” Quart. J. Med., 10 (37), 31.Google Scholar
(48) Mason, R. L., and Williams, R. D. (1941), “The Effect of Ingestion of Nicotinic Acid on the Determination of Thiamine in the Urine by the Thiochrome Method,” J. Biol. Chem., 140, 417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(49)“The Thiamine Requirement of Man” (1943), Editorial J. Am. Med. Ass., 121, 53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(50) Wortis, H., Bueding, E., Stein, M. H., and Jolliffe, N. (1942), “Pyruvic Acid Studies in the Wernicke Syndrome,” Arch. Neur. Psychiat., 47, 215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(51) Bueding, E., Stein, M. H., and Wortis, H. (1941), “Blood Pyruvate Curves following Glucose Ingestion in Normal and Thiamine-deficient Subjects,” J. Biol. Chem., 140, 697.Google Scholar
(52) Dewan, J. G. (1941), “The Etiology of Pellagra,” Am. J. Psychiat., 97, 1188.Google Scholar
(53) Butt, H. R., Leary, W. V., and Wilder, R. M. (1942), “Diseases of Nutrition,” Arch. Int. Med., 69, 277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(54) Meyer, A. (1943), personal communication.Google Scholar
(55) Himwich, H. E., Spies, T. D., Fazekas, J. F., and Nesin, S. (1940), “Cerebral Carbohydrate Metabolism during Deficiency of Various Members of the Vitamin B Complex,” Am. J. Med. Sci., 199, 840.Google Scholar
(56) Jolliffe, N., McLester, J. S., and Sherman, H. C. (1942), “The Prevalence of Malnutrition,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 118, 944.Google Scholar
(57) Kinnier Wilson, S. A. (1940), Neurology, p. 1359. Ed. Arnold & Co.Google Scholar
(58) Spies, T. D., Aring, C. D., Gelperin, J., and Bean, W. B. (1938), “The Mental Symptoms of Pellagra: Their Relief with Nicotinic Acid,” Am. J. Med. Sci., 196, 461.Google Scholar
(59) Spies, T. D., Blankenhorn, M. A., and Cooper, C. (1938), “The Use of Nicotinic Acid in the Treatment of Pellagra,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 110, 622.Google Scholar
(60) Frostig, J. P., and Spies, T. D. (1940), “The Initial Nervous Syndrome of Pellagra and Associated Deficiency Diseases,” Am. J. Med. Sci., 199, 268.Google Scholar
(61) Katzenelenbogen, I. (1939), “Nicotinic Acid in Endemic Glossitis,” Lancet, i, 1260.Google Scholar
(62) Aring, C. D., Bean, W. B., Roseman, E., Rosenbaum, M., and Spies, T. D. (1941), “The Peripheral Nerves in Cases of Nutritional Deficiency,” Arch. Neur. Psychiat., 45, 772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(63) Lewy, F. H., Spies, T. D., and Aring, C. D. (1940), “The Incidence of Neuropathy in Pellagra,” Am. J. Med. Sci., 199, 840.Google Scholar
(64) Spies, T. D., Hightower, D. P., and Hubbard, L. H. (1940), “Some Recent Advances in Vitamin Therapy,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 115, 292.Google Scholar
(65)“Pellagra in Spain” (1941), leading article, Lancet, ii, 458.Google Scholar
(66) Twiston-Davies, J. H., and McGregor, H. G. (1939), “Pellagra in Great Britain since 1934,” Brit. J. Derm. and Syph., 51, 51.Google Scholar
(67) Freeman, A. (1939), “Pellagra: Report of Two Cases in Psychotic Patients,” Psychiat. Quart., 13, 83.Google Scholar
(68) Parfitt, D. N. (1936), “Pellagra in Recent Psychoses,” J. Ment. Sci., 82, 440.Google Scholar
(69) Mindus, E. (1939), Report on Sweden. Leading article, Lancet, ii, 1281.Google Scholar
(70) Jolliffe, N., Bowman, K. M., Rosenblum, L. A., and Fein, H. D. (1940), “Nicotinic Acid Deficiency Encephalopathy,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 114, 307.Google Scholar
(71) Bender, L., and Schilder, P. (1933), “Encephalopathia Alcoholica (Polioencephalitis haemorrhagica superior of Wernicke),” Arch. Neur. Psychiat., 29, 990.Google Scholar
(72) Slater, E. (1942), “Psychosis Associated with Vitamin B Deficiency,” B.M.J., i, 257.Google Scholar
(73) Cleckley, H. M., Sydenstricker, V. P., and Geeslin, L. E. (1939), “Nicotinic Acid in the Treatment of Atypical Psychotic States,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 112, 2107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(74) Sydenstricker, V. P., and Cleckley, H. M. (1941), “The Effect of Nicotinic Acid in Stupor, Lethargy and Various Other Psychiatric Disorders,” Am. J. Psychiat., 98, 83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(75) Rosenblum, L. A., and Jolliffe, N. (1940), “Porphyrinuria in Pellagra,” Am. J. Med. Sci., 199, 853.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(76) Field, H., Melnick, D., Robinson, W. D., and Wilkinson, C. F. (1941), “Studies on the Chemical Diagnosis of Pellagra (Nicotinic Acid Deficiency),” J. Clin. Invest., 20, 379.Google Scholar
(77)“Trigonelline” (1941), leading article, Lancet, ii, 460.Google Scholar
(78) Sydenstricker, V. P., Schmidt, H. L., Fulton, M. C., New, J. S., and Geeslin, G. E. (1938), “The Treatment of Pellagra with Nicotinic Acid,” South. Med. J., 31, 1155.Google Scholar
(79) Spies, T. D. (1938), “The Response of Pellagrins to Nicotinic Acid,” Lancet, i, 252.Google Scholar
(80) Moore, C. V., Minnick, V., Vilter, R. W., and Spies, T. D. (1943), “Hypochromic Anaemia in Patients with Deficiency of the Vitamin B Complex,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 121, 245.Google Scholar
(81) Field, H., and Robinson, W. D. (1940), “The Absence of Reactions following the Therapeutic Doses of Nicotinic Acid Amide,” Am. J. Med. Act., 199, 275.Google Scholar
(82) Spies, T. D., Stanbery, S. R., Williams, R. J., Jukes, T. H., and Babcock, S. H. (1940), “Pantothenic Acid in Human Nutrition,” J. Am. Med., Ass., 115, 523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(83) Wortis, H., and Jolliffe, N. (1941), “The Present Status of Vitamins in Nervous Health and Disease,” New York State J. Med., 41, 1461.Google Scholar
(84) Mellanby, E. (1941), “Skeletal Changes Affecting the Nervous System Produced in Young Dogs by Diets Deficient in Vitamin A,” J. Physiol., 99, 467.Google Scholar
(85) Alexander, L., Pijoan, M., Schube, P. C., and Moore, M. (1938), “Cevitamic Acid Content of Blood Plasma in Alcoholic Psychoses,” Arch. Neur. Psychiat., 40, 64.Google Scholar
(86) Bowman, K. M., Wortis, H., and Reiser, S. (1939), “The Treatment of Delirium Tremens,” J. Am. Med. Ass., 112, 1217.Google Scholar
(87) Berkenau, P. (1940), “Vitamin C in Senile Psychoses,” J. Ment. Sci., 86, 675.Google Scholar
(88) Rafsky, H. A., and Newman, B. (1941), “Vitamin C Studies in the Aged,” Am. J. Med. Sci., 201, 749.Google Scholar
(89) Stephenson, W., Penton, C., and Korencheowsky, (1941), “Some Effects of Vitamins B and C on Senile Patients,” B.M.J., ii, 839.Google Scholar
(90) Moore, M. T., and Lichstein, J. (1941), “The Effect of Nicotinic Acid and Thiamine HCl on the Adverse Symptoms Encountered in Old Age,” Med. Rec., 154, 100.Google Scholar
(91) Wexburg, E. (1941), “Neurometabolic Deficiency in Old Age (Senile Encephalomyelosis),” Am. J. Psychiat., 97, 1406.Google Scholar
(92) Stone, S. (1942), “Vitamin B and E Therapy in Tabes Dorsalis,” J. Nerv. and Ment. Dis., 95, 156.Google Scholar
(93) Wechsler, I. S. (1940), “The Treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis with Vitamin E (Tocopherols),” Am. J. Med. Sci., 200, 765.Google Scholar
(94) Doyle, A. M., and Merritt, H. H. (1941), “Vitamin Therapy of Diseases of the Neuromuscular Apparatus,” Arch. Neur. Psychiat., 45, 672.Google Scholar
(95) Adamstone, F. B. (1941), “The Relation of Vitamin E to the Effectiveness of Testosterone Injected into Caponized Male Fowls,” Arch. Path., 31, 706.Google Scholar
(96) Idem (1941), “Brain Degeneration in Young Chicks Reared on an Iron Treated Vitamin E Deficient Ration,” ibid., 31, 603.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.