STUDIES ON VITAMIN A

Abstract

The relationship between vitamin A and carotene of the serum and the lipids of the serum has been stressed in previous communications.¹From the literature it is evident that the vitamin A and the lipids of the serum behave similarly during the course of pneumonia and during convalescence. Thus, it is known that during the course of pneumonia the vitamin A of the serum is reduced sometimes to an extreme degree, though complete absence is rare.²Likewise during infections the lipids may be reduced and, as in the case of vitamin A, the reduction is likely to be especially great in pneumonia.³There is some disagreement concerning the level of vitamin A storage in pneumonia, certain investigators claiming to have found a reduction, though usually it was rather slight,⁴and others having found none.⁵However, it is evident from the published figures that the loss