Although thiamine would not be isolated until 1911, the clinical syndrome of thiamine deficiency was recognized as far back as 2700 BC, when the term “beriberi”, meaning “wasted wasted” was first coined in China. Nearly 5,000 years later in the 1800’s, a Japanese naval surgeon discovered that death rates among sailors plummeted when they ate a nutritious and varied diet instead of mainly white rice, but it would still be many years before scientists understood that thiamine was the crucial ingredient lacking in polished rice. Thiamine is a water-soluble vitamin found in whole grains, meats, eggs, and legumes. It is primarily absorbed in the duodenum and proximal jejunum and converted to its active form, thiamine pyrophosphate, a coenzyme essential for carbohydrate metabolism.

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