Thiamin
Thiamin (vitamin B1), the structural formula of which appears below, consists of a pyrimidines ruing and a thiazole moiety.
This vitamin is found widely distributed in foods, but the only foods considered good sources of thiamin are pork and whole grain or enriched grain products.
Persons who diets are made up primarily of refined, unenriched grain products are at extreme risk for becoming thiamin deficient and perhaps developing beriberi.
Beriberi is rare in United States because grain products that are not whole grain are routinely enriched.
Beriberi puzzled medical experts for years as it ravaged people of all ages in Asia. Doctors thought it was caused by something in food.
Not until the early 1900s did scientists discover that rice bran, the outer covering that was removed to create the polished white rice preferred by Asians, actually contained something that prevented the disease.
Thiamine was the first vitamin identified. In the 1920s, extracts of rice polishing were used to treat the disease.
Thiamin
