A prospective epidemiological study was carried out over 1 year to evaluate vitamin B complex dietary intake and status in Cuba, 2 years after the Cuban neuropathy epidemic of 1993. Of the 199 healthy middle-aged men selected, 141 completed the study. Volunteers were followed up every 3 months for 1 year. Dietary intake and status of thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, folate and vitamin B12 were assessed each time. The dietary intake of vitamin B complex was low, particularly in June and July (folate), and October (thiamin). A deficient status was observed for vitamin B complex, except for vitamin B6. Vitamin B complex intake and status varied over the year. However, dietary intake and status were poorly related. The results prove that healthy Cuban men represent a vulnerable population in terms of vitamin B complex status and stress the necessity to both promote preventive multivitamin supplementation and produce local food rich in vitamin B complex.

The correlations between the mean of 4 d weighed intakes of lutein, lycopene and βcarotene and mean plasma concentations during each of the four Seasons were lutein r 0·64, lycopene r 0·47 and βcarotene r 0·45. Intake was not significantly correlated with plasma concentrations during every seasonal time-point. There was a significantly higher intake of lutein during the spring compared with summer and autumn, lycopene intake was significantly higher during the summer and autumn and there were no significant seasonal differences in β-carotene intake. There were, however, significant seasonal differences in plasma carotenoid concentrations, the highest levels occumng between May and October. There were large inter- and intra-individual variations in intake and plasma concentrations of carotenoids. BMI was inversely correlated with plasma βcarotene (r-0·41). The findings suggest that plasma carotenoid concentrations are indicative of dietary intake, but the large intra-individual variation in plasma concentrations indicates that any assessment of longer-term status from data at any one time-point should be treated with caution.