Title:Water soluble vitamins: mechanism and metabolism. A narrative review. 

Author:Reza Nemati, Christopher McEntyre, James Yeo, Ian Phillips, Bobby Li, Christine Leaver and Christiaan Sies

Abstract:Vitamins are essential nutrients that are classified into two groups, fat soluble vitamins (FSVs) and water-soluble vitamins (WSV). WSVs include thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxal phosphate (B6), biotin (B7), folate (or folic acid) (B9), cobalamin (B12), and ascorbic acid (C). Although deficiency of WSVs is uncommon, it can still be seen among individuals with different disorders such as short bowel syndrome, chronic alcoholism, and malnourished or post bariatric surgery patients. Despite the use of advanced technologies such as chromatography and mass spectrometry to measure vitamins, there is a need for more consistent standardisation and reference intervals. Covariates such as requirement for sample collection, fasting and avoiding supplementation, require more work to assess their effects in the interpretation of vitamin results. The aim of this review is to highlight pre-analytical factors such as fasting and cessation of supplementation before sampling. There are no comprehensive guidelines found in the literature describing how long vitamin supplementation should be ceased before sampling, and further studies are warranted.
Keywords: water soluble vitamins, reference range, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin supplement, fasting and non-fasting vitamins.
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