The absorption of vitamin A in chronic ulcerative colitis

Summary And Conclusions  Vitamin A absorption tests consisting of the oral administration of 100,000 U.S.P. units of Vitamin A were carried out in 25 patients with chronic ulcerative colitis, nine patients with miscellaneous diseases of the gastro-intestinal tract and in eight healthy normal adults. The plasma Vitamin A level did not rise as high in the patients with chronic ulcerative colitis as in the control subjects. This difference can best be explained by decreased absorption. It is suggested that there may be a reflex mechanism operating from the damaged colon that inhibits absorption from the small intestine with an additional factor of diarrhea often present.