VITAMIN A DEFICIENCY IN DIABETES MELLITUS

Abstract

The occurrence of increased amounts of carotene in the blood of patients with diabetes mellitus has long been recognized both by the clinical observation of xanthosis and by the results of laboratory tests. As early as 1904 von Noorden and Isaac 1 commented on the yellow pigmentation occurring in some patients with diabetes mellitus. In 1914 Palmer and Eckles 2 showed that carotene was present in the blood in the form of a carotoalbumin, and in 1919 Hess and Myers 3 correlated the occurrence of increased amounts of carotene in the blood with the yellowish pigmentation of the skin previously noted by von Noorden. In 1929 and 1930 Rabinowitch 4 noted that in patients with diabetes mellitus and xanthosis the diabetes appeared to be more severe and more difficult to control than in those without hypercarotenemia. In 85 per cent of 500 cases of diabetes mellitus studied at that time the carotene values were