Human Nutrition 3(3+0)

Lesson 24 : Thiamine (Vitamin B1)

Dry beriberi

The muscles become weak and progressively wasted. Walking becomes difficult. The emaciated subject needs the help of sticks to stand and walk and finally becomes bedridden. If not treated the person will die. Among British prisoners of war in Japanese camps, where beriberi was endemic, there were cases of a cerebral disorder known as ‘Cerebral beriberi’ which responded dramatically to thiamine therapy.