Vitamin needs of the elderly

Abstract

Vitamin deficiency is a result of gradual depletion of body stores secondary to poor dietary habits or to disease. Marginal or preclinical vitamin deficiency results in nonspecific symptoms such as malaise, irritability or somnolence, loss of appetite and weight, and impairment of psychologic and physical performance socially or at work. These signs precede clinical signs of disease. The elderly are particularly vulnerable to vitamin deficiency because of the high incidence of illness and disability in the later years of life and because of other common problems, such as low income, poor appetite, and social isolation.

Mechanisms underlying the differential effects of ethanol on the bioavailability of riboflavin and flavin adenine dinucleotide.

“…Flavin metabolism in cardiac tissue is particularly sensitive to the action of these agents; thus, riboflavin-deficient alcoholic patients may be at increased risk for developing cardiac arrhythmias with chronic usage of psychotropic drugs (46,47). While the Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome in alcoholism is widely attributed to alterations associated with a deficiency of thiamine, it is not generally appreciated that even minor degrees ofriboflavin deficiency may have important effects on personality (22,23,48,49). In addition, riboflavin deficiency leads to a depression ofantibody-forming cells in the spleen, which results in decreased immune responsiveness in experimental animals and increased susceptibility to infection (50).…”