The content of vitamin E in British diets

1. Analysis of whole daily diets of normal subjects and of diets prepared in hospital to resemble the home diets of ambulant hospital patients showed that the majority of diets in Britain have a vitamin E content less than the lowest recommended intake of 5 mg/d, despite being generally satisfactory in calorie, protein and fat contents.

2. Comparison of measured intake of vitamin E with the intake calculated from food tables showed that the use of such tables may be unreliable.

3. Analyses of selected representative foods and of duplicate whole diets showed that the variations between measured vitamin E content of diets and those calculated from tables may be largely due to the great variability of tocopherol concentration in apparently similar samples of food.

Treatment of ocular myasthenia with corticotrophin

Nine patients with severe myasthenia gravis, including ocular symptoms, who did not respond to anticholinesterase therapy were given prolonged courses of corticotrophin. In all patients except one there was an initial deterioration, sometimes necessitating assisted respiration, followed by a marked improvement which persisted for many weeks and occasionally months. It is concluded that corticotrophin should be continued for at least two weeks as the onset of the remission might be delayed. Repeated courses or small maintenance doses prolonged the remission. Fluid retention and hypokalaemia were common unwanted effects but necessitated stopping the treatment in only one patient.