egg-white and Vitamin-B-Deficiency

Mounting evidence indicates that marginal biotin deficiency is not rare, contrary to previous assumptions. Accordingly, robust indicators of biotin status would be useful. In a study of 10 healthy adults, we recently provided evidence that abnormally increased plasma concentration of 3-hydroxyisovaleryl carnitine (3HIA-carnitine) is a sensitive indicator of marginal biotin deficiency. We sought to determine whether urinary excretion of 3HIA-carnitine (expressed as the ratio to urinary creatinine) significantly increases in marginal biotin deficiency. Marginal, asymptomatic biotin deficiency was induced experimentally in the same 10 healthy adults (8 women) by feeding undenatured egg white with meals for 28 d. Biotin status was repleted by a mixed general diet plus biotin supplementation. Urinary excretion of 3HIA-carnitine was determined by liquid chromatography-tandem MS on d 0, 14, and 28 (depletion) and on d 35 and 50 (repletion). Mean urinary 3HIA-carnitine concentration increased with depletion (P < 0.0001; d 0 vs. 28) and decreased with repletion (P = 0.0002; d 28 vs. 50). Urinary 3HIA-carnitine excretion was greater than the upper limit of normal in 9 of 10 participants by d 14 and decreased to within normal limits by d 50 in all participants. This study provides evidence that urinary excretion of 3HIA-carnitine is an early and sensitive indicator of marginal biotin deficiency. The ease of collection of untimed urine samples and application of a new analytical method with simplified sample preparation suggest that urinary 3HIA-carnitine is likely to be a useful indicator for large population studies.

Topics: Adult; Biomarkers; Biotin; Carnitine; Egg White; Female; Humans; Lymphocytes; Male; Methylmalonyl-CoA Decarboxylase; Nutritional Status; Reference Values; Time Factors; Vitamin B Deficiency

Supplementation of a dry diet containing herring and soybean meals with D biotin had no effect on the feed comsumption, growth or mortality of rainbow trout in a 28 week experiment. In a second experiment two series of diets were used: practical, based upon herring and soybean meals, and purified, based upon casein and gelatin. The basal levels of biotin in the two series of diets were: 0.51 and 0 mg/kg, respectively. There were four treatment groups in each of the two diet series: the practical diets were either supplemented with 0.5 mg D biotin/kg or 10% of either raw or heated egg white was added to the diet. The purified diets were supplemented with graded levels of D biotin (0, 0.25 0.5, or 1.0 mg/kg). Raw egg white (1%) was added to the biotin unsupplemented diet. Feeding these diets to rainbow trout for 24 weeks showed that both the practical diet containing egg white, and the unsupplemented, purified diet were biotin deficient, all the other diets contained adequate amounts of biotin to support growth and prevent mortality. Neither supplementation of the practical diet nor adding more than 0.25 mg D biotin/kg to the purified diet resulted in any improvement in growth however the biotin levels in the livers were greater for the fish which had received the higher levels of dietary biotin, but these increased levels of biotin did not influence the activity of acetyl CoA carboxylase. The biotin deficient fish were anorexic, and exhibited degeneration of the gills: shortening and thickening of the lamellae and hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the heterogenous epithelial cells of the lamellae.

Topics: Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase; Animals; Biotin; Body Composition; Body Weight; Diet; Egg White; Liver; Nutritional Requirements; Salmonidae; Trout; Vitamin B Deficiency