beriberi - Page 4

A Case of Classic Beriberi in America

Published on
15347 views
thiamine deficiency beriberi in america

A desperate mother sent me an email about her 23-year-old son and it was easy to recognize that this young man had full-blown beriberi. You may or may not know that beriberi is well known as a vitamin B1 deficiency disease. Because the medical profession is convinced that this disease never occurs in America, it is usually not recognized for what it is. He had seen many physicians without success. I want to record the majority of his symptoms to show that they are surprisingly common and are usually ascribed to a “more modern” diagnosis. I have christened beriberi as the “great imitator” and I am sure that the reader will readily recognize the common nature of these symptoms, presented below in the form of a Table. It is important also to understand that these symptoms can occur for other reasons, but thiamine deficiency is widespread.

 

collapsing fatigue confusion
panic attacks loss of balance
blurred vision cluster headaches
hair loss jaundice at birth
infantile colic migraines
poor intestinal motility bloating
severe calf pain joint pains
weakness salt craving
cold extremities chemical sensitivity
POTS severe pain sensitivity

 

I want now to describe some of the features reported by this mother that were extremely important major clues. She described her son, when in good health, as 6’2”,  175 pounds, extremely athletic with “amazing hand-eye coordination and finishing college with high honors”.

As a result of his undiagnosed illness, his weight had dropped to 133 pounds. Because thiamine governs energy metabolism, an intelligent brain consumes a great deal. Of course, compromised energy production can occur for reasons other than thiamine deficiency. But there were very strong clues for beriberi. The mother described how her son

“…went out drinking with friends. The next day he could barely sit up in the car or stand. We were all commenting on why he was having such an extreme hangover”.

Alcohol would certainly exaggerate an existing thiamine deficiency. It is a well-known association. The symptoms were intermittent, rising and falling “for no apparent reason”. For example, she said that he was

“able to play sports, then lose his balance, become weak and complain of blurred vision”.

The reason for this is because the physical activity was demanding energy that could not be supplied because of the thiamine deficiency. He had jaundice at birth, now known to be because of inefficient oxygen utilization. This would indicate poor maternal diet in pregnancy or a genetic mechanism involving thiamine absorption. So-called panic attacks are common in the modern world and are absolute indicators of poor oxygen utilization in the brain. Under these conditions the reflex known as fight-or-flight would be initiated and this is what is being called panic attacks. The blurred vision would go along with this too.

Beriberi is a Form of Dysautonomia

We have two nervous systems. One maintains what we call willpower and is known as the voluntary system. The other one is known as autonomic and is entirely automatic and outside willpower. This system controls all the organs within the body. It explains why there are so many symptoms involving many parts of the body. This is because of the loss of signaling power between the organs and the brain. A lot of energy is required to run this system and explains why the autonomic nervous system is affected in beriberi. POTS is one variety of dysautonomia. This young man craved salt and that too is a form of dysautonomia is known as cerebral salt wasting syndrome, explaining the natural craving.

Thiamine deficiency beriberi in America

Is there a help from the laboratory?

The answer to this is no, as long as physicians refuse to recognize that beriberi is common in America. This unfortunate young man was diagnosed almost certainly as psychosomatic. The disease has a very long morbidity with symptoms shifting up and down according to the state of energy metabolism on a day-to-day, week-to-week and month-to-month basis. The laboratory has to look for it because the standard tests done only provide distant clues. It is the absence of the abnormal results that make it easy to conclude that this is “a psychologic disease”. For example, it was reported that this young man had an elevated vitamin B12 and a mildly elevated CRP. I cannot give the complex details here, but both are peculiarly related to energy metabolism and require understanding in order to fit them into the pattern of diagnostic clues. I have reported these facts elsewhere.

What is the hope of normal health in this person?

It stands to reason that the first thing is proper diagnosis and a knowledge of the widespread symptomatology, including their fluctuation. As long as he continues to take alcohol and sugar, he will never get his health back even if he supplements with thiamine. He is in danger of developing the classical brain disease known as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy. This state of the disease almost certainly involves cellular damage that cannot be repaired. It is therefore very urgent to understand the self-responsibility that is required. He has to learn that alcohol is potentially lethal for him. There is undoubtedly a genetic relationship between alcoholism and sugar craving and it is probably true that a search for the genetic relationship would at least be helpful in understanding the nature of this disease.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter.

Image by NoName_13 from Pixabay.

Related posts:

mother daughter B vitamin deficienciesFrom Mother to Daughter: The Legacy of Undiagnosed Vitamin Deficiencies thiamine dependencyThiamine Deficiency and Dependency Syndromes: Case Reports antidepressant withdrawalAntidepressant Withdrawal and Antibiotic Toxicity thiamine limbic systemHow Can Something As Simple as Thiamine Cause So Many Problems?

You might be interested in

What is Thiamine to Energy Metabolism?

Published on
7471 views
thiamine energy

What is Energy?

Energy is an invisible force. The aggregate of energy in any physical system is a constant quantity, transformable in countless ways but never increased or diminished. In the human body, chemical energy is produced by the combination of oxygen with glucose. This reaction is known as oxidation. The chemical energy is transduced to electrical energy in the process of energy conservation. This might be thought of as the “engine” of the brain/body cells. We have to start thinking that it is electrical energy that drives the human body. The production of chemical energy is exactly the same in principle as the burning of any fuel but the details are quite different. The energy is captured and stored in an electronic form as a substance known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) that acts as an energy currency. The chemical changes in food substances are induced by a series of enzymes, each of which combine together to form a chain of chemical reactions that might be thought of as preparing food for its ultimate breakdown and oxidation. Each of these enzymes requires a chemical “friend”, known as a cofactor. One of the most important enzymes, the one that actually enables the oxidation of glucose, requires thiamine and magnesium as its cofactors. Chemical energy cannot be produced without thiamine and magnesium, although it also requires other “colleagues”, since all vitamins are essential. A whole series of essential minerals are also necessary, so it is not too difficult to understand that all these ingredients must be obtained by nutrition. The body cannot make vitamins or essential minerals. There is also some evidence that thiamine may have a part to play in converting chemical energy to electrical energy. Thus, it may be the ultimate defining factor in the energy that drives function. If that is true, its deficiency would play a vital role in every disease.

Energy Consumption

Few people are aware that our lives depend on energy production and its efficient consumption. A car has to have an engine that produces the energy. This is passed through a transmission that enables the car to function. In a similar manner, we have discussed how energy is produced. It is consumed in a series of energy requiring chemical reactions, each of which requires an enzyme with its appropriate cofactor[s]. This series of reactions can be likened to a transmission, enabling the human body to function. If energy is consumed faster than it can be synthesized, or energy cannot be produced fast enough to meet demand, it is not too difficult to see that it would produce a fundamental change in function. Lack of function in body organs affects our health. The symptoms are merely warning the affected individual that something is wrong. The underlying cause has to be ascertained in order to interpret how the symptoms are generated.

Why Focus on Thiamine?

We have already pointed out that thiamine does not work on its own. It operates in what might be regarded as a ”team relationship”. But it has also been determined as the defining cause of beriberi, a disease that has affected millions for thousands of years. Any team made up of humans requires a captain and although this is not a perfect analogy, we can regard thiamine as “captain” of an energy producing team. This is mainly due to its necessity for oxidation of glucose, by far and away the most important fuel for the brain, nervous system and heart. Thus, although beriberi is regarded as a disease of those organs, it can affect every cell in the body and the distribution of deficiency within that body can affect the presentation of the symptoms.

Thiamine exists only in naturally occurring foods and it is now easy to see that its deficiency, arising from an inadequate ingestion of those foods, results in slowing of energy production. Because the brain, nervous system and heart are the most energy requiring tissues in the body, beriberi produces a huge number of problems primarily affecting those organs. These changes in function generate what we call symptoms. Lack of energy affects the “transmission”, giving rise to symptoms arising from functional changes in the organs thus subserved. However, it must be pointed out that an enzyme/cofactor abnormality in the “transmission” can also interrupt normal function.

In fact, because of inefficient energy production, the symptoms caused by thiamine deficiency occur in so many human diseases that it can be regarded as the great imitator of all human disease. We now know that nutritional inadequacy is not the only way to develop beriberi. Genetic changes in the ability of thiamine to combine with its enzyme, or changes in the enzyme itself, produce the same symptoms as nutritional inadequacy. It has greatly enlarged our perspective towards the causes of human disease. Thiamine has a role in the processing of protein, fat and carbohydrate, the essential ingredients of food.

Generation of Symptoms

Here is the diagnostic problem. The earliest effects of thiamine deficiency are felt in the hindbrain that controls the automatic brain/body signaling mechanism known as the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS also signals the glands in the endocrine system, each of which is able to release a cellular messenger. A hormone may not be produced in the gland because of energy failure, thus breaking down the essential governance of the body by the brain. Hypoxia (lack of oxygen) or pseudo-hypoxia (thiamine deficiency produces cellular changes like those from hypoxia) is a potentially dangerous situation affecting the brain and a fight-or-flight reflex may be generated. This, as most people know, is a protective reflex that prepares us for either killing the enemy or fleeing and it can be initiated by any form of perceived danger. Thus, thiamine deficiency may initiate this reflex repeatedly in someone that seeks medical advice for it. Not recognizing its underlying cause, it is diagnosed as “panic attacks”. Panic attacks are usually treated by psychologists and psychiatrists with some form of tranquilizer because of the anxiety expressed by the patient. It is easy to understand how it is seen as psychological, although the sensation of anxiety is initiated in the brain as part of the fight-or-flight reflex and will disappear with thiamine restoration. It may be worse than that: because the heart is affected by the autonomic nervous system, there may be a complaint of heart palpitations in association with the panic attacks and the heart might be considered the seat of the disease, to be treated by a cardiologist. The defining signal from the ANS is ignored or not recognized. Because it is purely a functional change, the routine laboratory tests are normal and the symptoms are therefore considered to be psychological, or psychosomatic. The irony is that when the physician tells the patient “it is all in your head”, he is completely correct but not recognizing that it is a biochemical functional change and that it has nothing to do with Freudian psychology.

A Sense of Pleasure

A friend of mine has become well aware that alcohol, in any form, or sugar, will automatically give him a migraine headache. He still will take ice cream and suffer the consequences. I have had patients tell me that they have given up this and that “but I can’t give up sugar: it is the only pleasure that I ever get”. They still came back to me to treat the symptoms. We have come to understand that we have no self-responsibility for our own health. If we get sick, it is just bad luck and the wonders of modern medicine can achieve a cure. The trouble is that a mild degree of thiamine deficiency might produce symptoms that will make it more difficult to make the necessary decisions for our own well-being. Let me give some examples of symptoms that are typically related to this and are not being recognized.

  • Occasional headache
  • Occasional heartburn or abdominal pain
  • Occasional diarrhea or constipation
  • Allergies
  • Fatigue
  • Emotional lability
  • Insomnia
  • Nightmares
  • Pins and needles
  • Hair falling out
  • Heart palpitations
  • Persistent cough for no apparent reason
  • Voracious or loss of appetite

The point is that thiamine governs the energy synthesis that is essential to our total function and it can affect virtually any group of cells in the body. However, the brain, heart and nervous system, particularly the autonomic (automatic) nervous system (ANS) are the most energy requiring organs and are likely to be most affected. Since the brain sends signals to every organ in the body via the ANS, a distortion of the signaling mechanism can make it appear that the organ receiving the signal is at fault. For example, the heart may accelerate because of a signal from the brain, not because the heart itself is at fault. Hence, heart palpitations are often treated as heart disease when a mild degree of thiamine deficiency in the brain is responsible. We have known for many years that sugar in all its different forms can and will precipitate mild thiamine deficiency. It is probably the reason why sugar is considered to be a frequent cause of trouble. If thiamine deficiency is mild, any form of minor stress may precipitate a much more serious form of the deficiency.

We Need Your Help

Hormones Matter needs funding now. Our research funding was cut recently and because of our commitment to independent health research and journalism unbiased by commercial interests we allow minimal advertising on the site. That means all funding must come from you, our readers. Don’t let Hormones Matter die.

Yes, I’d like to support Hormones Matter.

Related posts:

Thiamine -key to energy metabolismWhat Is Thiamine to Energy Metabolism? Health requires energyHealth Requires Energy. Energy Requires Nutrients. medical revolutionEnergy Loss as a Cause of Disease migraine, brain energy, thiamineMigraine Energy Metabolism: Connecting Some Dots

You might be interested in

The Paradox of Modern Vitamin Deficiency, Disease, and Therapy

Published on
13321 views
calorie rich versus nutrient rich

In order to understand why this article is about “paradox”, the concept of vitamin therapy must be appreciated. Hence, the explanation of the title is deferred to the end. Although vitamin deficiency disease is believed by most physicians to be only of historical interest, this is simply not true. When we think of a vitamin deficiency disease, we envision an individual living in a third world country where starvation is common. Such an individual is imagined as being skeletal, whereas an obese person is considered to be well fed with vitamin enriched foods. For this reason, common diseases, some of which are associated with obesity, are rarely, if ever, seen as potentially vitamin deficient.

The Calorie Rich and Nutrient Sparse Modern Diet

Our food is made up of two different components, the caloric and the non-caloric nutrients.  When we ingest high calorie foods (e.g. a doughnut) without even a vestige of non-caloric nutrients, we refer to this as “empty” or “naked” calories.  For our food to be processed into energy that enables the body and brain cells to function, there must be a ratio of the calorie bearing component to that of the non-caloric nutrients.  When we load the calories together with an insufficiency of non-caloric nutrients, we alter this ratio and produce a relative vitamin deficiency.  The trouble with this is that it does not result in the formation of the classic vitamin deficiency diseases as recorded in the medical literature. There is a gradual impairment of function, resulting in many different symptoms. Because modern medicine seeks to make a diagnosis by the use of imaging techniques and laboratory data and because of the physician’s mindset, if the tests used are normal, the possibility of a relative vitamin deficiency is ignored.

The Brain as a Chemical Machine

We have two different nervous systems. One is called “voluntary” that enables us to do things by will-power.  This is initiated and controlled by the upper brain, the part of the brain that thinks. The other system is known as the autonomic nervous system (ANS).  This is initiated and controlled by the lower part of the brain, the limbic system and brainstem.  This system is controlled automatically.  Although it collaborates with the other system, it is not normally under voluntary control. The limbic system and brainstem are highly sensitive to oxygen deficiency, but since the oxygen is useless without the non-caloric nutrients, their absence would produce the same kind of phenomena as oxygen deficiency. Thiamine (vitamin B1) has been found to be of extreme importance as a member of the non-caloric nutrients. The brain, and particularly the limbic system and brainstem, is highly sensitive to its deficiency.

Since the ANS is automatic, we are forced to think of the limbic system and brainstem as a computer.  For example, when it is hot, you start to sweat.  Evaporation of the sweat from the skin produces cooling of the body, representing an adaptive response to environmental hot temperature. When it is cold, you may start to shiver. This produces heat in the muscles and represents an adaptive response to environmental low temperature. If you are confronted by danger, the computer will initiate a fight- or- flight reflex.  This is a potential lifesaving reflex.  It is designed for short term use, consumes a vast amount of energy and prepares you to kill the enemy or flee from the danger.  Any one of these reflexes may be modified by the thinking brain. For example the lower brain, also known as the reptilian system, initiates the urge to copulate.  It is modified by the upper brain to “make love”.  The reptilian system, working by itself, can convert us into savages. There is an obvious problem here because our ancestors were faced with the dangers of short term physical stress associated with survival.  In the modern world the kind of stress that we face is very different for the most part.  We have to contend with traffic, paying bills, business deadlines and pink slips. The energy consumption, however is enormous, continues for a long time and it is hardly surprising that it is associated with fatigue, an early sign of energy depletion. It has been shown in experimental work that thiamine deficiency causes extensive damage to mitochondria, the organelles that are responsible for producing cellular energy.

Autonomic Function

The autonomic nervous system, controlled by the lower brain, uses two different channels of neurological communication with the body. One is known as the sympathetic system and the other is the parasympathetic. There are also a bunch of glands called the endocrine system that deals with the brain-controlled release of hormones.

We can think of the sympathetic branch of the ANS as the action system. It governs the fight-or-flight reflex for personal survival and the relatively primitive copulation mechanisms for the survival of the species. It accelerates the heart to pump more blood through the body.  It opens the bronchial tubes so that the lungs may get more oxygen. It sends more blood to the muscles so that you can run faster and the sensation of fear is a normal part of the reflex. When the danger is over and survival has been accomplished, the sympathetic channel is withdrawn and the parasympathetic goes into action. Now in safety and under its influence, body functions such as sleep and bowel action can take place.  That is why I refer to the parasympathetic as the “rest and be thankful system”.

Dysautonomia, Dysfunctional Oxidation and Disparate Symptoms 

When there is mild to moderate loss of efficiency in oxidation in the limbic system and/or brainstem they become excitable. This is most easily accomplished by ingesting a high calorie diet that is reflected in relative vitamin deficiency.  The sympathetic action system is turned on and this can be thought of as a logical reaction from a design point of view.  For example, if you were sleeping in a room that was gradually filling with carbon dioxide, the gradual loss of efficiency in oxidation would be lifesaving by waking you up and enabling you to exit the room. In the waking state, this normal survival reflex would be abnormal.

High calorie malnutrition, by upsetting the calorie/vitamin ratio, causes the ANS to become dysfunctional. Its normal functions are grossly exaggerated and reflexes go into action without there being any necessity for them. Panic attacks are merely fragmented fight-or-flight reflexes.  A racing heart (tachycardia) may start without obvious cause.  Aches and pains may be initiated for no observable reason. Affected children often complain of aching pain in the legs at night. Unexplained chest and abdominal pain are both common. This is because the sensory system is exaggerated. One can think of it as the body trying to send messages to the brain as a warning system.

Nausea and vomiting are both extremely common and are usually considered to be a gastrointestinal problem rather than something going on in the brain. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is caused by messages being conveyed through the nervous system of the bowel, increasing peristalsis (the wave-like motion of the intestine) and often leading to breakdown of the bowel itself, resulting in colitis.  Of course, the trouble may be in the organ itself but when all the tests show that “nothing is wrong”, the symptoms are referred to as psychosomatic. The patient is often told that it is “all in your head”.

Emotional instability seems to be more in keeping with psychosomatic disease because emotional reactions are initiated automatically in the limbic system and thiamine deficient people are almost always emotionally unstable. A woman patient had been crying night and day for three weeks for no observable reason. A course of intravenously administered vitamins revealed a normal and highly intelligent person.  Intravenously administered vitamins are often necessary for serious disease because the required concentrations cannot be reached, taking them by mouth only.

The Vitamin Therapy Paradox

The body is basically a chemical machine.  But instead of cogwheels and levers, all the functions are manipulated through enzymes that, in order to function efficiently, require chemicals called “cofactors”. Vitamins are those essential cofactors to the enzymes.  If a person has been mildly to moderately deficient in a given vitamin or vitamins for a long time without the deficiency being recognized, the enzyme that depends on the vitamin for its action appears to become less efficient in that action.  A high concentration of the vitamin is required for a long time in order to induce its functional recovery.

Although the reason is unknown, doctors who use nutritional therapy with vitamins have observed that the symptoms become worse initially.  Because patients expect to improve when a doctor does something to them and because drugs have well-known side effects, it is automatically assumed by the patient that this worsening is a side effect of the vitamins. If the therapy is continued, there is a gradual disappearance of those symptoms and overall improvement in the patient’s well being. Unless the patient is warned of this possibility he or she would be inclined to stop using the treatment, claiming that vitamins have dangerous side effects and never getting the benefit that would accrue from later treatment.  This is the opposite effect that the patient expects. This is the paradox of vitamin therapy. 

If we view dysautonomia as an imbalance in the functions of the ANS and the vitamin therapy as assisting the functional recovery by stimulating energy synthesis, we can view this initial paradoxical as the early return of the stronger arm of the ANS before the weaker arm catches up, thus worsening an existing imbalance. However, this is mere speculation. I did not learn of the “paradox” until I actually started using mega dose vitamins to treat patients.

The Paradox and Thiamine

In this series of posts, we are particularly concerned with energy metabolism and the place that thiamine holds in that vital mechanism.  It is, of course, true that worsening of serious symptoms is a fact that has to be contended with and vitamin therapy should be under the care of a knowledgeable physician. The earlier the symptoms of thiamine deficiency are recognized, the easier it is to abolish them. The longer they are present the more serious will be the problem of paradox and a clinical response will also be much delayed and may be incomplete.

Beriberi and Thiamine Deficiency

I will illustrate from the early history of beriberi when thiamine deficiency was found to be its cause.  Many of the patients had the disease for some time before thiamine was administered, so the danger of paradox was increased. It was found that if the blood sugar was initially normal, the patient recovered quickly. If the blood sugar was high, the recovery was slow.  If the blood sugar was low, the patient seldom recovered.  In the world of today, an abnormal concentration of glucose in the blood would make few doctors, if any, think of thiamine deficiency as a potential cause. It is no accident that diabetes and thiamine metabolism are connected. Education of the doctor and patient are both absolutely essential. I believe that the ghastly effects of Gardasil, and perhaps some other medication reactions covered on Hormones Matter, can only be understood by thinking of the body as a biochemical machine and that the only avenue of escape is through the skilled use of non caloric nutrients.

We Need Your Help

More people than ever are reading Hormones Matter, a testament to the need for independent voices in health and medicine. We are not funded and accept limited advertising. Unlike many health sites, we don’t force you to purchase a subscription. We believe health information should be open to all. If you read Hormones Matter, like it, please help support it. Contribute now.

Yes, I would like to support Hormones Matter. 

Image by Rochak Shukla on Freepik

Related posts:

beriberi great imitatorBeriberi: The Great Imitator thiamine dependencyThiamine Deficiency and Dependency Syndromes: Case Reports beriberi thiamine deficiencyBeriberi is Alive and Well in America diet brain diseaseChildhood Trauma, Diet, and Behavior

You might be interested in

Post Gardasil POTS and Thiamine Deficiency

Published on
19316 views
Autonomic nervous system

On July 8th 2013, I received an e-mail from a mother of a 17-year old daughter who had received Gardasil vaccination in 2008 resulting in a severe reaction. Two weeks after the second injection she began to experience a “flu-like” episode that continued for about a week and was followed by facial swelling, streptococcal infection, double ear infection and a diagnosis of mononucleosis. It was initially concluded that this was coincidental, not due to the vaccination. From then on she suffered from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome ( POTS), severe edema and “digestion issues which have been constant since”. POTS is a multi-symptomatic disease of the lower brain that affects many aspects of brain/body control mechanisms. She reported that “30,000 girls (and some boys) have been affected by the vaccine” and of those of which she was aware,“ the majority have POTS and trouble metabolizing sugar and carbs”.

Because of the persistent edema and digestive problems, my informant had done her own research and concluded that her daughter’s symptoms were due to thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency. She found my name in connection with this subject and requested my help. There is a blood test, known as erythrocyte (red cells) transketolase that is specific for identifying thiamine deficiency, so I suggested that this be done. It was strongly positive, proving TD. This led to the test being done on another Gardasil affected girl and this was also strongly positive.  Most of the affected girls known to her had POTS. Some had mitral valve prolapse (MVP).  About twenty five percent of POTS patients are disabled.  The symptoms often follow a virus infection. It is one of many conditions classified as dysautonomia and this includes beriberi, long known to be due to thiamine deficiency.

Dysautonomia, often associated with MVP, affects the lower brain controls of both branches of the autonomic (automatic) nervous system (ANS) that enable our adaptation to the constant changes in environment. For example, one branch, known as the sympathetic system, accelerates the heart and the other, called the parasympathetic, slows it. We sweat when it is hot and shiver when it is cold, both automatically initiated by the sympathetic branch of the ANS.

In the early stages of beriberi the ANS is unbalanced, so that either the sympathetic or parasympathetic, normally working in synchrony, dominates the reaction, adversely affecting blood pressure, pulse rate and many other adaptive mechanisms, like POTS.  It can be seen that the patient with POTS or beriberi is essentially maladapted and is unable to adjust bodily systems to meet environmental changes. Edema (swelling in parts of the body), a cardinal feature of beriberi, supported a diagnosis of thiamine deficiency in this mother’s daughter. Also, Gardasil is a yeast vaccine and an enzyme called thiaminase, whose action destroys thiamine, is known to be in the yeast. Thiaminase disease has been reported in Japan in association with dietary thiamine deficiency.

We know from the history of beriberi that exposure to the stress of ultraviolet light (sunlight) sometimes “triggers” the first symptoms of the disease when thiamine deficiency is marginal, but not severe enough to cause symptoms. Other stress factors (virus, inoculation, injury) can do the same. In effect, diet may cause an individual to be in a state of marginal vitamin deficiency. A mental or physical stress factor automatically induces a need for energy to meet this stress. If cellular energy is insufficient to drive the  mechanisms by which an adaptive adjustment is required, it results in a maladaptive response.

The lower brain, where the ANS control mechanisms are situated, is particularly sensitive to thiamine deficiency, equivalent to a mild to moderate degree of oxygen deprivation. The commonest cause of thiamine deficiency in industrial nations is alcohol, but it is also known that sugar consumption will increase the need for thiamine. Beriberi has recently been reported in Japan in seventeen adolescents consuming carbonated soft drinks. The social life of adolescents may thus increase the risk from an inoculation that might otherwise be less threatening.

The statistics on sugar ingestion (150 pounds per person per year) suggests that marginal TD is common. The report of a “difficulty in metabolizing sugar and carbs” may be highly relevant. One of the questions asked by parents of the affected girls known to my informant is why did the vaccine seem to “pick off” the most intelligent and athletic individuals. The answer must be that the higher the IQ, the more is cellular energy required by the brain. Sugar, even at social levels of consumption, may be a greater risk for them.

It is important to understand that there are multiple factors that have to be taken into account in solving the cause of this disaster. The “fitness” of the individual implies her adaptive ability in biochemical terms, not her athletic or student prowess. Dietary indiscretion may or may not enter the equation and depends on individual sensitivity to food substances as well as the ratio of calories to the necessary vitamins for their processing in the body. The stress factor, the case in discussion being Gardasil, may be more or less stressful in its own right, perhaps related to batch number or commercial process. Lastly the genetics of an individual always enters the equation. These three factors, Genetics, Stress and Nutrition can be seen as three interlocking circles, all of which overlap at the center. Each circle must be evaluated in its contribution to the ensuing result.

Publications and resources from Dr. Lonsdale:

  1. A Review of the Biochemistry, Metabolism and Clinical Benefits of Thiamin(e) and Its Derivatives
  2. Treatment of autism spectrum children with thiamine tetrahydrofurfuryl disulfide: A pilot study.
  3. Thiamine
  4. Asymmetric functional dysautonomia and the role of thiamine.
  5. Exaggerated autonomic asymmetry: a clue to nutrient deficiency dysautonomia.
  6. Oxygen – the Spark of Life. Dr. Lonsdale’s blog.

Resources for Understanding Thiamine Deficiency

Molecular Mechanism of Thiamine Utilization

Participate in Research

Hormones MatterTM is conducting research on the side effects and adverse events associated with Gardasil and its counterpart Cervarix. If you or your daughter has had either HPV vaccine, please take this important survey. The Gardasil Cervarix HPV Vaccine Survey.

To take one of our other Real Women. Real Data.TM surveys, click here.

To sign up for our newsletter and receive weekly updates on the latest research news, click here.

Related posts:

thiamine chronic illnessThiamine for Fibromyalgia, CFS/ME, Chronic Lyme, and SIBO-C It all comes down to energyIt All Comes Down to Energy mother daughter B vitamin deficienciesFrom Mother to Daughter: The Legacy of Undiagnosed Vitamin Deficiencies Health requires energyHealth Requires Energy. Energy Requires Nutrients.

You might be interested in

1 2 3 4