<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Dear List and Bob,

I am posting this to the list because information on vitamin testing
as a follow-up to a Celiac diagnosis might be useful to a number of
people.

A few days ago, Bob Dickinson raised a question about a possible
connection between niacin deficiency and neuropathy, to which I
replied. It seems clear from our subsequent private correspondence
that it is not easy to find information on what kinds of vitamin
tests are available.

Following is information about the tests Dr. Peter Greene of Columbia
Presbyterian ordered for me. As many of you know, he has often been
quoted on this list as an authority on Celiac Sprue. I am uninformed
about vitamins and their effects in the body in general, so I
apologize in advance for being unable to supply any information
beyond what I am writing here.

The date on my test results is 5.13.98; the lab's location, phone
number or area code may have changed in the last couple of years.

The lab was:

Vitamin Diagnostics, Inc.
Route 35 and Industrial Drive
Cliffwood Beach, New Jersey 07735

(732) 583-7773

At the bottom of the page, there's a note that says
Methodology: As outlined in 'Clinical Vitaminology; Methods and
Interpretation,' by Herman Baker and Oscar Frank.
John Wiley and Sons, 1968

The vitamins Dr. Green asked to have tested in my case were:

Vitamin A
Beta Carotene
Thiamin (B1)
Riboflavin (B2)
Niacin (B3)
Pantothenic Acid (B5)
Vitamin (B6)
Folic Acid
Vitamin (B12)
Vitamin (C)
Vitamin (E)
Biotin (B7)

Others that this lab apparently tests:

Free Choline
Biopterin
Inositol
Free Carnitine
Acyl Carnitine
Total Carnitine
Lipoic Acid

The message here is that if your doctor, like Bob's, says there is no
such thing as a test for niacin, he or she is incorrect.

Mary Brown
NYC