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Dependence of Vitamin B-6 Status Assessment on Alcohol Intake Among Elderly Men and Women (Dutch Nutrition Surveillance System)^{1, 2,}

Departments of Human Nutrition and Clinical Biochemistry, TNO-CIVO Toxicology and Nutrition Institute, 3700 AJ Zeist, The Netherlands

To obtain more insight into the effect of moderate alcohol intake on vitamin B-6 status indicators, we studied the associations of alcohol intake (unadjusted and adjusted for intake of vitamin B-6 and protein) with the erythrocyte aspartate aminotransferase activation coefficient (EAST-AC) and plasma pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) level. Data obtained from men (n = 224) and women (n = 217) aged 65–79 (nationwide sample in the Netherlands) were used for this purpose. Although alcohol intake (a maximum of 21% of the energy came from alcohol) tended to be positively associated with PLP, this association never reached statistical significance (p 0.05). EAST-AC was inversely associated with alcohol intake, whether or not it was adjusted for vitamin B-6 and protein intake. Similar results were found for the total EAST activity (after adding PLP) or apoenzyme activity; the basal EAST activity (before adding PLP) or holoenzyme activity was not associated with the alcohol intake. These results indicate that caution is needed in the interpretation of the specificity of EAST-AC (i.e., the degree to which EAST-AC is unaffected by other factors) as an indicator of vitamin B-6 intake.

KEY WORDS: • vitamin B-6 • alcohol • humans • pyridoxal 5'-phosphate

¹ This study was financially supported by the Ministry of Welfare, Health and Cultural Affairs of The Netherlands.

² Address reprint requests to Dr. Michiel R. H. Löwik, Department of Human Nutrition, TNO-CIVO Toxicology and Nutrition Institute, P.O. Box 360, 3700 AJ Zeist, The Netherlands.

Manuscript received 7 August 1989. Revision accepted 6 June 1990.