The New England journal of medicine
The most recent articles from:
N. Engl. J. Med.
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Letter Case Reports Clinical Trial
Vitamin C and migraine: a case report.
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The Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is a thiamine-deficiency disorder occurring primarily among alcoholics. To determine the economic feasibility of preventing this disease by fortification of alcoholic beverages with thiamine, we compared the cost of fortification with the cost of institutionalizing alcoholics with the disorder. The estimated annual incidence of institutionalization is eight per million adult population. ⋯ Thus, the cost-benefit ratio may range from 1:23 to 1:4. It is economically advantageous to prevent the Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome by fortification of alcoholic beverages with thiamine. The stability, safety and marketability of thiamine and the allithiamines in alcoholic beverages should be studied further.