An effect of pyridoxine on blood urea in human subjects.

In 1942 pyridoxine was related to protein metabolism (1). Since that time this vitamin or a derivative thereof has been described as a component of transaminase (2) and of decarboxylase (3). Pyridoxine has been claimed to be beneficial in the treatment of a variety of diseases. An attempt to produce a deficiency of this vitamin in a human subject failed to give evidence of any significant change (4). Pyridoxine has been used with apparent success in the alleviation of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy and also of the same condition consequent to irradiation (5,6). Hesseltine (7) described a controlled investigation in which pyridoxine therapy was compared with placebo administration, but the comparison was based only on subjective evaluation of the condition of the subjects. To date there has been no objective evidence of an effect of pyridoxine in humans. This report deals with a significant response obtained in blood urea levels before and after administration of pyridoxine in cases of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.