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.