3o8 Vitamines and Deficiency Diseases [June-September 



IL BERIBERI 



In spite o£ numerous proofs that beriberi is a " deficiency dis- 

 ease," a number of papers deal with the subject from a different 

 point of view. Most of these papers have no scientific value and 

 may be disregarded; only those will be reviewed which are based 

 on sound Observation or on experimental evidence. 



Human beriberi. Now and then cases of beriberi, and even 

 epidemics of this disease, are reported in which the point is empha- 

 sized that no polished rice was eaten. This fact is cited against the 

 Vitamine theory. We know, however, that rice as such is not the 

 cause of the disease. White bread, sago, and, in general, any food 

 that is naturally poor in vitamines, or is rendered deficient in them 

 by cooking (either too prolonged or under pressure) or by extrac- 

 tion, is apt to cause beriberi. This point must be clearly understood. 



The most prominent paper opposed to the vitamine theory of 

 the etiology of beriberi is that of Caspari and Moszkowski (i), who 

 consider beriberi a disease of toxic origin. They based their opinion 

 chiefly on the results of experiments on animals. They found that 

 addition of egg to the diet prevents the onset of the disease in ani- 

 mals kept on polished rice, but increase in the quantity of rice pro- 

 voked the disease despite the addition of egg. They seem to believe 

 that eggs contain an antidote f or poison formed from rice, but, as we 

 shall see in the section on the "physiology of vitamines," their re- 

 sults can be explained on the basis of the vitamine theory. Similar 

 opinion was expressed by Abderhalden and Lampe (2), who found 

 that pigeons on a diet of cooked rice developed beriberi later than 

 those kept on raw rice. Their explanation is that during the cook- 

 ing a poison was eliminated from the rice. Although the Observa- 

 tion of these authors was confirmed in my experiments, their con- 

 clusion is quite wrong, as we shall see. 



Practically all the evidence in support of the view that beriberi 

 is a "deficiency" disease was obtained in studies on pigeons and 

 fowls. Several authors have tried to prove that although avian beri- 

 beri (Polyneuritis) is a "deficiency" disease, it has nothing in com- 

 mon with human beriberi. This opinion has been frequently stated, 

 especially by Japanese authors. Thus, Shibayama (3) believes that 

 the protective substance from rice polishings is very much less effec- 



