749 



1 1 90 Ludik demjl Cr Kanl dtmy 



'\ed by liypcremcsis. Being uniblc to loUriic fruitt, 

 llic ccok to coniumiiig vcgeublci m lirgc quintitict. 

 la a fon.aighc the consumed • b«tl of young e«rrou. 

 She soon fouad (hat she took pleasure in it, or (O (he 

 Slid. She aie eurots in (hit muiacr tad quantity 

 throughout her pregnancy. After childbirth, «he 

 stopped eating carrots and rrturned to nortnal She 

 ntimatod (hat she had consumed (uo and a half 

 sacks of carrots during her pregnancy. She noted 

 iha( her skin became iutenscly yellow. 



Ilcr stotnach troubles accompanied by occasional 

 vumiling recurred in 1985. She resumed eating 

 ctcrois regularly and in the course of a (ingle week, 

 •he eie 1 kg of carrots daily. Carrots had to be eaten 

 raw. Cooked carrots failed to quench her craving 

 Her desire became .«i in(cnse that she preserved the 

 carrots peeling as a reserve supply. la the •■■'inter 

 months and particularly in spring, when carrots lose 

 much nf their pleasant Havour and become rather 

 bitter, she added sugar to them. If she ran out of 

 Clrrolz at the wcc>;.end, she would ask a neighbour to 

 give her some. Vf hen no carrotc were available, she 

 became desperately nervous. Son-.etimet the would 

 bite off a mouthful of carrot even before washing it. 

 In iJie morning she voutd feel a desire for carrots 

 and would peel and eat them even on her way to 

 work. Her ici;uain(ancea began to make fun of he; 

 tod even to acold her. She (bea retorted to 

 purchasing and eating carrots secretly. Another 

 time, in the pccmises of the hcrse-facinj course 

 where she often eomej in compioy with her 

 daughter, luge case.-! loaded with carrots were 

 delivered to (he itablct. She had nothing with her to 

 put the earrott io. Her craving for carrots was so 

 irten.sc that she weal to borrow a plastic bag and 

 took the cacTDts directly from the discharged cases. 

 She had tried (o reduce her curot consumptloil 

 several times hut all het efforts have failed. Of iate, 

 due to poor market supply of Carrots, (he has 

 attempted to cure herself of this habit. She is psrtly 

 successful and cruaches something else instead, z.%. 

 radishes. At the same time she is considerably 

 nervous. She has noticed a tendency to more copious 

 bleeding but ao othct UifTiculiics are. involved. 



The naiifj>t is subjected to a coatutuous foUiiw 

 up. During her lait check-up »he imparted the 

 ioformation thir 2 yoatt j^o (he got (id of her 

 dependence iin carrots — these she completely left 

 out of her menu. About Christctijs \'iV\, vh<- lacted 

 carrots several (imei when cooking, and (gain found 

 them appealing to her palate. She realized that (he 

 miRht quickly become dependent on (hern again. 

 When this was bcoughi hone to hcf , sh; maoagrd tc 



stop taking carrota in lime. At present she has no 

 difficulties. 



Somatoneurological findings were within the 

 norm. Her skin is orange in colour, especially the 

 uaderturfaces of her feet and her palms. A complex 

 examination of the level of retiool, ca(T>renoid( in 

 general, and beta-carotene in the serum, as well as of 

 some eoiymatic systems including the determina- 

 tion of the cnrymatic activity of the following 

 parameters was carried out. The test battery applied 

 here was recomnicnded •fter a consultation with 

 specialists In interual diseases about (he possibilities 

 of renderiog certain biological changes. Ttese tests 

 cover the area of the description of liver, cardiac and 

 neurovegetative diseases recommended by the Ger- 

 man Medical Chamber for the purposes of clinical 

 diagnostics. !r. compliance with the rcfults of 

 enzynutic teats, metabolic disorders in the eniyma- 

 iic pattern can he distinguished In great dei«U, and 

 (he patient's metabolic condition as well as his 

 disease can be monitored by methods non-iggrcs- 

 sive in long-term application. 



Our material thaws a marked impairment of the 

 pattcat't eniynvis. A particularly marked intesifica- 

 tion flf activity bax been found in aldolase (AI.D) as 

 veil as cerebral creatinkinasc (CK B) and lipase. 

 Lower values in comparison with the norm were 

 found in uylesterase (AE), alkaline phosphomoso- 

 ctietaie (AP), and cholineitcraac (CHS). Her high 

 carrot intake resulted in substantially higher vtluei 

 of retiaol, beta-carotene and carotcooids in general. 

 A prcdooiinant represent;stion of lycopens tad plant 

 carotenotdt were found in the serum. 



In evaliutiflg the proGle of the patient's enzyiiKt, 

 it may be itaied that the patiet^t't dependence on 

 carrots led to a metabolic imbalance. After a long- 

 term monitoring of the patient's conditioa, the 

 detected changes were found to depend on rhe 

 quantity of consumed carrots, and, after a relatively 

 long tbttinencc, they rettjo to normal. In ail 

 probability, the changes involved are not persistent. 



Our third case wis a 40-year-old man, J. T. who 

 wai undergoing treatment for multiple iclerotis. la 

 spring I98t, b« turned up at an uiti-«mokiag advice 

 cciitnc in Priigue tsldag for help to atop smoking. Tic 

 had made nunteroui un<uccet(ful attempts to dun 

 kiundf because of his concerns for bis general 

 licaiih. Hit wife bad advised that it was necessary to 

 replace eigaretcec with co<n«cKia(; els« and rcc 

 oounendcd a substitute — *"ruit, or crunchiitg tome 

 vegetables. She gave him carrots and he found that it 

 helped him to forget about crgi/ettes. He was loon 

 eating carrots constantly, consutning up to five 



