The Philippine 

 Journal of Science 



Vol. 23 NOVEMBER, 1923 No. 5 



METABOLIC MECHANISM IN BERIBERI 1 



By Wm. D. Fleming 



Captain, Medical Corps, United States Army; 



United States Army Medical Department Research Board 



The bulk of the work, other than purely clinical, published 

 on beriberi has dealt largely with anatomical findings, gross 

 or microscopical. On functional disturbances one finds a mea- 

 ger literature, reporting results often widely varying, and con- 

 clusions from these results in many cases radically opposed. 

 De Langen and Schut(5) found evidence of a lowering of blood 

 lipoids. Jansen and Mangkoewinoto,(9) investigating the res- 

 piratory quotient of birds fed upon polished rice until polyneu- 

 ritis developed, found an occasional fall in the respiratory 

 quotient but this fall was not constant and could not be accepted 

 as a criterion of the condition. Anderson and Kulp(l) found 

 no change in the respiratory quotient of chickens in vitamine 

 B starvation. This is corroborated by work recently reported 

 by Mattill(lO) indicating that deprivation of vitamine B does 

 not interfere with glucose combustion. Hopkins (8) and Ren- 

 shaw(i2) found that vitamines apparently aided the use of 

 sources of energy in metabolism. 



The opportunity has recently been afforded the writer of 

 examining the question of the respiratory metabolism in human 

 subjects suffering from beriberi. An investigation of this 

 disease as it occurred in the wards of the Philippine General 

 Hospital, Manila, was undertaken by a committee of the staff 



1 From the laboratory of the United States Army Medical Department 

 Research Board, Bureau of Science, Manila, P. I. Received for publication 

 April 19, 1923. 



