The hypercarotenemia in anorexia nervosa: a comparison of vitamin A and carotene levels in various forms of menstrual dysfunction and cachexia

Serum beta‐carotene in anorexia nervosa patients: A case‐control study

“…Their study was similar in size and they found increased serum ␤C values in 51% of the 91 patients (Banji & Mattingly, 1988). The great variability (ranging from 13% to 80%) reported in the prevalence of hypercarotenemia in AN patients is probably due to the small size of previous studies: Pops and Schwabe (1968) investigated 12 anorexics, 9 of whom had serum carotene levels greater than 240 g/dl; Robboy et al (1974) reported a significant elevation of mean serum ␤C values in the anorectic group that included only 8 patients. Our results are also at variance with those of Mehler et al (1998), who found normal ␤C levels in their 23 female anorexics, and with those of Sherman et al (1994).…”

“…Hypercarotenemia is a well-documented laboratory feature of anorexia nervosa (AN; Banji & Mattlingly, 1988;Becker, Grinspoon, Klibanski, & Herzog, 1999;Rock & CurranCelentano, 1994;Rock, Gorenflo, Drewnowski, & Demitrack, 1996;Schwabe, Lippe, Chang, Pops, & Yager, 1981), but its prevalence has been variously estimated because of the small size of study populations (Dally, 1959;Frumar, Meldrum, & Judd, 1979;Pops & Schwabe, 1968;Robboy, Sato, & Schwabe, 1974;Rock & Swendseid, 1993). The clinical utility of hypercarotenemia (serum beta-carotene [␤C] >200 g/dl) as a diagnostic marker of AN has been examined infrequently.…”

Carotenemia in normal-weight bulimia: A finding unrelated to other physical manifestations of the syndrome

“…If this supposition were true, it would be difficult to explain the fact that the carotenemia reported in patients with severe classical anorexia nervosa with profound weight loss is at a much higher level than in the present series. Serum carotene levels of 600-1800 pg/dl have been described in anorexia nervosa (Pops & Schwabe, 1968;Robboy et al, 1974).…”

“…It has been reported in anorexia nervosa (Pops & Schwabe, 1968;Robboy, Sato, & Schwabe, 1974) and has also been described in patients who have significant weight loss and symptoms of binge eating and purging (Curran-Celentano, Erdman, Nelson, & Gra- ter, 1985), a disorder variously classified as bulimia (Halmi, 1983;SchlesierStropp, 1984), bulimia nervosa (Russell, 1979), or a bulimic subtype of anorexia nervosa (Casper, Eckert, Halmi, Goldberg, & Davis, 1980;Garfinkel, Moldofsky, & Garner, 1980). Various theories proposed to explain the carotenemia include a direct relationship with malnutrition (Frumar, Meldrum, & Judd, 1979), the eating of foods high in carotene (Robboy et al, 1974), altered metabolism of vitamin A (Robboy et al, 1974), abnormal lipid metabolism (Pops & Schwabe, 1968;Langan & Farrell, 1985), or abnormalities of thyroid function related to decreased weight or food intake (Curran-Celentano et al, 1985).…”

Nutritional assessment of college age women with bulimia

“…Nutritional studies with anorexic patients indicate abnormalities in lipid metabolism as demonstrated by hypercholesterolemia, reduced capacity for bile acid excretion, and hypercarotenemia. These abnormalities returned to normal, once weight gain and nutritional status improved (Robboy et al, 1974;Nestel, 1974;Casper et al, 1980b;Schwabe, 1981). Protein deficiency is minimal in anorexics and only sometimes is manifested in the levels of serum proteins (Capser et al, 1980b;.…”