Occurrence of Acute Wernicke's Encephalopathy during Prolonged Starvation for the Treatment of Obesity

Abstract

THE more liberal use of prolonged starvation in the treatment of obesity has posed a number of questions regarding the metabolic requirements of body tissues under these conditions. The need for vitamin supplementation has not been studied adequately as yet.It has been held that total fasting does not result in vitamin B1 deficiency because vitamin need and vitamin excretion diminish after a few days.1 2 3 Ziporin et al.4 have postulated that thiamine requirements decrease with a lowering of caloric intake. Similarly, it has been noted that thiamine requirements fall with diminishing physical activity.5 In the starving obese subject endogenous fat . . .