Proposed standard for human blood vitamin B1 value using HPLC. The Committee for Vitamin Laboratory Standards, Japan

Standard reference ranges for all laboratory test values are mandatory. This study was designed to establish a reference range for blood vitamin B1 levels, since the normal range has not been determined in the Japanese population. We founded the Japan Committee for Vitamin Laboratory Standards, which was incorporated with the Vitamin Society of Japan and the Japanese Society of Nutrition and Food Science. We standardized whole blood vitamin B1 levels using three HPLC techniques (post-column reverse-phase HPLC, pre-column reverse-phase HPLC, and precolumn GP-HPLC). The reference range was obtained in 54 volunteers administered a 1,800 kcal diet with 2 mg of vitamin B1 (1.74 mg measured) daily to avoid marginal vitamin B1 deficiency in the population. The range for each assay was 26-47, 28-51, and 28-56 ng/ml, respectively. Our data suggest that 26-28 ng/ml is the lower limit of normal for whole blood vitamin B1, but further studies in a larger population are needed in order to obtain more definitive results.