Dutch Research on Beriberi: I. Christiaan Eijkman's Research and Evaluation of Kanehiro Takaki's Diet Reforms of the Japanese Navy.

Abstract

Dutch researcher Christiaan Eijkman realized that a form of Polyneuritis closely resembling Beriberi occurred among chickens that were fed with cooked, instead of raw rice. He found that the cause of this illness lay in the nutritional differences between rice that still had its bran layer, and polished white rice. He also found that this bran layer had a therapeutic effect. He decided to investigate the incidence of Beriberi among humans by comparing a diet based on white rice with one based on unpolished, full-grain rice. In 1898, he published 'Beri-Beri en Voeding, Een Kritisch-Historische Studie' (Beri-beri and Feeding, An Important Historical Study), in which he discussed the diet reforms of Van Leent in the Dutch East Indian Navy, and of Kanehiro Takaki in the Japanese Navy. Notwithstanding the fact that Takaki's research was highly praised by the Lancet, Eijkman was very critical of his research methods. He was conscious, however, that a shift had occurred in the research of Beriberi from bacteria-based research to nutritional deficiencies, and discussed Takaki's findings insofar as he could.