|
Beriberi, White Rice, and Vitamin B: A Disease, a Cause, and a Cure | 
 enlarge | Author: Kenneth Carpenter
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $55.00
Buy New: $16.50
You Save: $38.50 (70%)
New (18) Used (10) from $10.00
Sales Rank: 982148
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 296
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0520220536
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.392009
EAN: 9780520220539
ASIN: 0520220536
Publication Date: March 25, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In this comprehensive account of the history and treatment of beriberi, Kenneth 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 B1 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. Western doctors working in Asia after 1870 saw it as the major disease in native armed forces and prisons. It was at first attributed to miasms (poisonous vapors from damp soil) or to bacterial infections. In Java, chickens fed by chance on white rice lost the use of their legs. On brown rice, where the grain still contained its bran and germ, they remained healthy. Studies in Javanese prisons then showed beriberi also occurring where white (rather than brown) rice was the staple food. Birds were used to assay the potency of fractions extracted from rice bran and, after 20 years, highly active crystals were obtained. In another 10 years their structure was determined and "thiamin" was synthesized. Beriberi is a story of contested knowledge and erratic scientific pathways. It offers a fascinating chronicle of the development of scientific thought, a history that encompasses public health, science, diet, trade, expanding empires, war, and technology.
|
|
|
. | |
