What is Beri Beri?
Bereri beri is a malnutrition disease caused by the chronic lack of thiamine, better known as vitamin B1.
Causes
The beriberi is a pathology widespread above all in the eastern populations with a diet mainly based on the consumption of polished rice. Thiamine - being particularly abundant in rice bran, therefore in the whole product - is in fact lost through the cereal refining process.
Thiamine deficiency can also be triggered by dysbiosis, especially when characterized by an excessive proliferation of intestinal bacterial flora; in fact, some of these microorganisms synthesize an enzyme, called thiaminase, capable of inactivating vitamin B1.
So weakened thiamine deficiency, which often escapes diagnosis, can therefore still be registered today, especially in people who consume too much refined food, in alcoholics, during pregnancy and lactation, and in case of stressful events, including sport, or resections and gastrointestinal disorders (celiac disease, ulcerative colitis, etc.). Spies of this deficit are symptoms such as neuritis, chronic fatigue, headaches, irritability, memory disorders, palpitations, breathlessness, constipation, digestive difficulties, dizziness and loss of appetite.
Thiamine functions
B1 was the first vitamin discovered by man, way back in 1911 thanks to the studies of Funk; already some years before Eijkam, charged with discovering the origin of a disease that had suddenly assailed a good part of the armies of the Dutch Indies, had come to the conclusion that the tegument of the rice contained some substance whose absence caused the beriberi in the man and in the hens.
Vitamin B1 essentially acts as a coenzyme in energy production starting from energy substrates such as glucides and glucogenic amino acids. In nature, it is found in foods such as fresh meat, eggs, legumes, whole grains, green leafy vegetables, fruit and milk.
Symptoms
To learn more: Symptoms Beriberi
Beri-beri is a word of the Sinhalese language, which literally means "I cannot cannot", referring to the paralyzing effects that it can produce in affected individuals.
The beriberi can give three different symptoms:
- wet beriberi: afflicts mainly the cardiovascular system. It involves an accumulation of fluid in the tissues, with edema, tachycardia, breathing difficulties and a tendency to heart failure;
- Beriberi Dry: afflicts mainly the nervous system. The patient appears extremely emaciated, and complains of atrophy of the muscles of the lower limbs and polyneuropathy;
- infantile beriberi: it affects infants of 2-3 months of age. It can occur in different forms, isolated or variously associated with each other: cardiac (fulminant), aphonic and pseudomeningitic. It can therefore be lethal if action is not taken quickly with adequate treatment. The causes of infantile beriberi are to be found in the consumption of thiamine-poor breast milk.
Before assuming a precise physiognomy, the beriberi is manifested by lack of appetite, asthenia, gastrointestinal disorders, edema (sometimes), palpitations, sensitivity disorders, uncertainty in movements, weakness in the legs, pain and muscle spasms.
Neuropathy is the characteristic sign of the adult beri-beri (dry form); it manifests itself with altered sensory perception, tingling or loss of sensitivity to hands and feet, difficulty walking, mental confusion, difficulty in speaking and involuntary eye movements (optokinetic nystagmus).
Treatment
Beriberi therapy is based on the administration of thiamine (thiamine hydrochloride) orally (10 mg / day), possibly supported by a multivitamin and multimineral, but above all by the correction of dietary habits. In the most serious forms of beriberi, a double daily injection is required intramuscularly with about 20 mg of vitamin hydrochloride. Recovery is often surprising in its rapidity, so much so that considerable improvements are registered within an hour from the start of the specific treatment for beriberi.
