Physiology

Question:

A 38-year-old male is brought into the emergency room with mild confusion and disorientation to person, place, and time. His diet consists exclusively of salads and coffee. He is found to have an acute dermatitis on his forearms and reports loose, watery diarrhea for the past three days. What vitamin deficiency would you suspect in this patient?

Correct Answer: B.  Niacin

Niacin (nicotinic acid or Vitamin B3) produces many biologically active derivatives including NAD, NADP, NAD+, and NADH. Niacin deficiency results in the classic triad of dementia, dermatitis, and diarrhea, known as pellagra.

Thiamine deficiency (C) results in Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome often in chronic alcoholics with poor nutrition, while the others present with multiple signs/symptoms.