Research Catalog

Title

Beriberi, white rice, and vitamin B : a disease, a cause, and a cure / Kenneth J. Carpenter.

Author

Carpenter, Kenneth J. (Kenneth John), 1923-2016.

Publication

Berkeley, CA : University of California Press, [2000], ©2000.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xiv, 282 pages : illustrations, map; 24 cm

Summary

• "In this account of the history and treatment of beriberi, Kenneth J. Carpenter traces the decades of medical and chemical research that solved the puzzle posed by this mysterious disease. Caused by the lack of a minute quantity of the chemical thiamin, or vitamin B[subscript 1], in the diet, beriberi is characterized by weakness and loss of feeling in the feet and legs, then swelling from fluid retention, and finally heart failure.".
• "Beriberi is a story of contested knowledge and erratic scientific pathways. It offers a chronicle of the development of scientific thought, a history that encompasses public health, science, diet, trade, expanding empires, war, and technology."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

• Oryza > adverse effects
• Thiamine Deficiency
• Beriberi > etiology
• Thiamine > therapeutic use
• Vitamin B1 > History
• Beri-beri > History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-274) and index.

Contents

1. The National Disease of Japan -- 2. Rice as a Staple Food -- 3. Studies in the Colonies: A Dutchman's Chickens -- 4. The Chicken Disease Reinterpreted -- 5. The British Take Their Turn -- 6. The Americans Call a Meeting -- 7. The Isolation and Construction of a Vitamin -- 8. Chemical Analyses of Foods: Explanations and Surprises -- 9. Beriberi without White Rice -- 10. How Much Thiamin Do We Need? -- 11. How Should the Knowledge Be Used? -- 12. Aspects of the Subject in Hindsight -- App. A. Thiamin Chemistry -- App. B. Thiamin Biochemistry.

ISBN

0520220536 (cloth : alk. paper)

LCCN

99053339

OCLC

• ocm42726107
• SCSB-4793013

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries