DSearch Strategies

Databases Searched

• Medline, 1966 through December 1996
• Embase

Search Terms Used

The search for the nutrient name was limited to titles. Additional strategies were used to identify articles missed by this restriction.

• Nutrient Names
  • thiamin* or B-1
  • riboflavin or B-2
  • niacin or nicotinic acid or nicotinamide
  • pyridoxal or pyridoxamine or pyridoxine or B-6
  • cobalamin or cyanocobalamin or B-12
  • folic acid or folacin or folate
  • pantothenic acid or pantothenate
  • biotin
  • choline
• Specifications and Restrictions of Computerized Search
  • human only
  • not neoplasm?/DE (secondary search done for folate and variations on neoplasms in the title)
  • not reviews
  • not letters

Other Searches

• Medline
  • neural tube defects or spina bifida, prevention or etiology of atrophic gastritis and other terms related to pernicious anemia
• Federal Research in Progress (FedRIP), limited to CRISP files, which cover the Public Health Service
  • nutrient name in the title
• CRISP search done by NICHD
  • search terms: anencephaly, spina bifida, meningomyelocele, fusion failure, neural tube, folate deficiency

Additional Sources of References

• References listed in publications on various nutrient reference values from the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States
• References listed in selected textbooks and review articles and in research articles
• References provided by panel and committee members and by outside experts
• Review of recently received journals

Databases Searched

• Medline, 1965 through December 1996
• Toxline

The following mechanisms were used: National Library of Medicine's PubMed (Medline from 1966–present); WinSPIRS, Version 1.0 (Medline from 1983–May 1997); and HealthWorld/Infotrieve (Medline and Toxline from 1966–present). The choice of which mechanism to use for a particular search involved consideration of ease of access to the database, type and extent of data on adverse effects accessed by each, and presentation of the search information.

Search Terms Used

Searches consistently allowed the inclusion of animal studies unless the number of articles retrieved was large, as was the case for folic acid. Specific searches of folate and animals are specified in the listing below. Final searches were conducted July through October 1997.

• thiamin AND [toxicity OR high dose OR dermatitis OR pruritus OR sudden infant death syndrome]
• riboflavin AND [toxicity OR safety OR high dose OR excess OR phototoxicity OR photosensitization OR mutagenicity OR DNA damage]
• niacin AND [toxicity OR gastrointestinal OR gout OR flushing OR hepatotoxicity]
• pyridoxine AND [toxicity OR peripheral neuropathy OR kidney stones OR dermatosis OR photosensitivity]
• [folic acid OR folate] AND [toxicity OR zinc OR neurotoxicity OR nephropathy] (restricted to human studies)
• [folic acid OR folate] AND [kidney AND ((humans OR toxicity)) OR ((adverse effects AND animals)) OR fruit bats OR precipitation of neuropathy]
• [vitamin B12 OR cyanocobalamin OR cobalamin] AND [toxicity OR excess OR high dose]
• pantothenic acid AND [toxicity OR excess OR high dose]
• biotin AND [toxicity OR high dose]
• choline AND [toxicity OR adverse effects OR fishy odor OR hypotension OR hepatitis OR hepatotox*]