GENERALISED MUSCLE WEAKNESSThe story of beriberi and vitamin B1THIAMINE(Keywords: generalised muscle weakness, beriberi, thiamine, vitamin B1 ) There are some very smart, observant people in the world. Four of them, two Dutch and a Japanese doctor are credited with the discovery of the first vitamin, a deficiency of which causes generalised muscle weakness and ultimately death. This is the story of how food processing companies take a very healthy food, in this case rice, process it and turn it into crap. Forgive the vulgarity, but I feel strongly on the subject. Somebody, back in the mists of time, discovered that you could polish rice, remove the rice bran and more particularly the rice germ and turn God-given healthy BROWN rice into WHITE rice. Crap. The discovery resulted in the death of probably millions of people, mostly in the Far East where rice is the staple diet. And the bran/germ mix? Oh, they fed that to the pigs and chickens because it was good for them! Today, they would extract the vitamins and oils in the germ and sell them back to you at a great profit.  Custom Search THREE OBSERVANT DOCTORSNearly 400 years ago a Dutch physician, Dr Jacob Bonitus, wrote about a "troublesome affliction" that caused generalised muscle weakness, tremors, spasms and numbness in the arms and hands and legs of the local people. He had no idea of the cause of the affliction, but he described the symptoms of beriberi with remarkable accuracy.Our second smart doctor was Dr Takai Kanehiro, a medical doctor in the Japanese navy who observed that nearly a half of the Japanese sailors on a long voyage developed these strange symptoms, of whom 25 died of the disease. The diet was primarily white refined rice. He then drastically changed the diet of the sailors on a similar voyage, and only 14 cases of beriberi were reported with no deaths. Are you still eating refined white rice? Our third observant doctor was another Dutchman; Dr Chistiaan Eijkman noted that the chickens belonging to the rich (and were given the scrapings from the table that was predominantly white rice) developed strange spasms with an odd neck posture in extension, now called episthotonus, but the chickens of the poor who ate brown rice were spared of this strange malady. Eventually, the observations of these three, and others who followed them, building on their reports, led to the discovery of certain essential substances in food that were "other than protein, carbohydrate and fat". VITAMINS. And so the first vitamin was discovered, Vitamin B1, Thiamine, a deficiency of which leads to beriberi. What's really odd, is that people still eat predominantly white rice, sometimes "enriched" with thiamine. You'd think that we'd learn, but no... Dr Gerrit GrijsActually it was a colleague of Dr Eijkman, who eventually put two and two together and came up with four: the rice germ contains an essential nutrient, over and above the three basic foodstuffs, that was being removed by the polishing of rice. Dr Eijkman had been testing a cul-de-sac - that the food companies were inadvertently adding some toxin / bacteria to the rice in the polishing process. But no, they were removing this essential nutrient, vital for the production of energy and the passage of impulses along nerves. The deficiency lead unerringly to generalised muscle weakness, especially the heart muscle.Eureka! The discovery of vitamins, and Dr Eijkman got the Nobel prize for his work into generalised muscle fatigue and beriberi. It was a team effort really, but he got the credit. USEFUL LINKS @ Generalised muscle weaknessAdenosine Triphosphate (ATP)ATP is one of the major forms of energy in the body but the very complex biochemical pathways are driven by Thiamine-based enzymme called Thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) that is required to break down carbohydrate and protein.No Thiamine > no TPP > no ATP energy > nerve degeneration, malaise and weakness > beri-beri All animals are totally dependent on food containing Thiamine, and the germ of grains like rice and wheat, and yeasts are the most common sources. Thus it's no surprise that severe muscle fatigue, especially in the eyes and lower legs is a common feature of the a vitamine B1 deficiency. There are many enzymmes (over 24) in the cells of the body that are Thiamine dependent. The nerves and the heart are especially vulnerable, because this is where these enzymmatic processes are occuring at a very high rate. Peripheral neuropathyBecause the nerves to the limbs are so dependent on Thiamine, a deficiency causes wide-spread, bilateral weakness, numbness and tenderness, particularly in the lower legs and calf muscles.Thiamine has a vital function in nerve membranes and interesting the axons of nerves can actually transport Thiamine along the course of the nerve. Mental confusionThese "oxidative" processes where Thiamine-dependent enzymmes are so vital are also occuring at a very high rate in the brain. Moreover, some 30 years ago, scientists Matsuda and Cooper established that Thiamine was localised within the membranes in synapses in the brains of rats. Production of acetylcholine, one of the main neurotransmitters in the brain, is utterly dependent on the presence of Thiamine.Using electronmicroscopes, Pawlik etal established the nerve degeneration (axons) of rats starved of Thiamine, and how the myelin sheath became disrupted. A Thiamine deficiency should be suspected in any person showing signs of senile dementia, particularly as the elderly tend to get into the tea-and-toast mode. This is a double wammy, because white toast contains only 10% of the Thiamine of whole wheat, and tea and coffee (and alcohol) are known inhibitors of absorption. Cardiac FailureThe heart too has a very high rate of oxidation, so any B1 deficiency leads to many serious cardiac conditions including Congestive Heart Failure.MagnesiumThe mineral Magnesium is vital in the binding of Thiamine to the enzymmes in the body. Any deficiency of magnesium, particularly if coupled to low Thiamine levels due to poor diet, or alcholism for example, will also cause heart, brain and nerve conditions. Magnesium is found in very high amounts in spinach. Spinach soup and other fresh spinach salad recipes.SPECIFIC MUSCLE WEAKNESSWhereas generalised muscle weakness speaks of a nutritional deficiency, or perhaps a serious muscle wasting or neurological disease like MS, specific muscle weakness points more to specific nerve impingement syndromes. Carpal tunnel syndrome causes weakness in the hand, a sciatic neuritis weakness in the lower leg.But even that's not simple. Diabetes can cause specific quadriceps weakness for example. However, more often than not, specific weakness in association with lower back and leg pain results from nerve impingment. Test yourself...
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