title: Vitamin A reserve of liver in health and coronary heart disease among ethnic groups in Singapore.
abstract: 1. The vitamin A content of human liver tissue was determined in 363 autopsy samples. The sample comprised a total of 181 subjects dying after accidents and 182 dying from coronary heart disease among Singapore ethnic groups of both sexes. 2. The medium vitamin A reserve was 146 mg/kg in accident victims and 141 mg/kg in those who had died of coronary heart disease. Of all the samples 16% contained less than 40 mg/kg, 45% had 100-300 mg/kg, while 9% contained more than 500 mg/kg liver. 3. Among the accident victims, Indians had the lowest median liver vitamin A reserve (118 mg/kg) compared with that in other ethnic groups (137 mg/kg in Chinese, 191 mg/kg in Malays, 155 mg/kg in Caucasians). 4. The ethnic distribution of vitamin A reserve in coronary deaths was similar to that in accident victims. 5. There was no significant difference between the sexes in hepatic vitamin A reserve. 6. The distribution of vitamin A reserve in all the groups was skewed to the right.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.forename: T B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: P Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Wee
mesh_terms: D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000208:ethnology / Q000378:metabolism*; D005060:Europe / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008099:Liver / Q000032:analysis*; D008296:Malaysia / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D012846:Singapore; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014801:Vitamin A