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A Comparison of Thiamine Synthesis and Excretion in Human Subjects on Synthetic and Natural Diets

New York State College of Home Economics, Cornell University, Ithaca

Three normal women were maintained on a synthetic diet containing 1.00 mg of thiamine per day for 7 weeks. This diet was followed, after a month's respite, by a diet of natural foods containing 0.84 mg of thiamine per day. Excretion of thiamine in the urine was measured daily, and in the feces by 5-day periods. The results may be summarized as follows:

1. Daily urinary thiamine values averaged 116, 113, and 147 µg on the synthetic diet, and 90, 91, and 112 µg on the natural diet.

2. The average values for daily excretion of "free" thiamine in the feces were 17, 15, and 13 µg on the synthetic diet, and 25, 49, and 35 µg on the natural diet.

3. "Combined" thiamine of the feces was 2.4, 5.1, and 4.5 times higher on the natural than on the synthetic diet, suggesting that the synthetic diet was less favorable for bacterial synthesis of thiamine than the natural diet.

4. The facts that urinary thiamine excretions on the natural diet reflected the lowered thiamine intake and that increases in fecal excretion of "free" thiamine were small, might indicate that fecal synthesis of thiamine was not an important factor in the thiamine economy of these three subjects.

5. The excretions of thiamine by these subjects and their apparent well-being on thiamine intakes of 0.84 to 1.00 mg support the lowering of the recommended daily allowance for women to 1.1 or 1.2 mg per day.