OUTBREAK OF BERIBERI IN THE GAMBIA
TReprinted from:
ECHO Newsletter
ECH2O2 Inc. P.O. Box
126 Delano, MN 55328
OUTBREAK OF BERIBERI IN THE GAMBIA
By A. Ramsay Tainsh, MBE
(Ref: The Lancet July 22, 1989)
Beriberi has come to mean, to many English speakers, a disease caused
by the lack of Thiamine or Vitamin B1 in the diet. Dry and Wet
Beriberi are fungal diseases caused by the consumption of rice milled
in China and Japan. ln these regions paddy is harvested in the monsoon
and when winds fail the crops are attacked by a mildew called
Penicillium citreoviride: it is not toxic in the field. However, if
this paddy is stored before it is thoroughly dried it forms a
mycotoxin called Citreoviridin. This toxin remains on milled and
polished rice. One serving of such rice caused Dry Beriberi or Shoshin
Kakke. The patient is acutely ill in 5 hours and may die in great pain
in 3 days. From 1600 to 1900 it was the very rich and the middle
classes who suffered from Dry Beriberi as they could afford to
purchase ready to cook rice. Those who hand or foot pounded paddy into
brown rice, smelt the paddy and sun-dried it. This destroyed most of
the poison and the rest was washed out. The paddy not damaged by
mildew but not thoroughly sun-dried developed storage fungi which
caused Wet Beriberi or Kakke. Even rewetted rice imported from China
did cause Wet Beriberi. Paddy harvested in the dry season as in
Thailand, Burma and most of lndia, developed other storage fungi and
mycotoxins and caused many different diseases dependent on the mixture
of mycotoxins. ln 1941-45 the troops on the Bengal, Burma and Manipur
fronts developed not Beriberi or Pellagra but many other fungal
diseases. The cure for all of them was "Protective Foods". These
included fresh fish, fresh fruits, vegetables, roots, spices, herbs,
onion and garlic. These are called Very diluted Hydrogen
peroxide may be taken orally. lt destroys the poisons produced by
viruses, bacteria, fungi, yeasts and zooids. Between May 18 and July
18 1942 I fed 20,000 men, women and children of 27 different
nationalities trekking out of North Burma and lost only 18. They died
when given whisky in tea, allopathic drugs and Vitamin B1 and B2. My
warnings of the dangers of using Vitamin B1 and B2 and allopathic
drugs were ignored. Of the 20,000 refugees reaching Margherita on foot
2,000 died within 4 days of being admitted to hospital. ln 1944
following the successful battle of Kohima fought on a diet of damp
spoilt food without "Protective Foods" all the troops became ill. They
had plenty of food so it was not called "Malnutrition" but diagnosed
as "Battle Fatigue". Thirty per cent of the 7th Indian division were
admitted to hospital. They were treated with Vitamin B1 and B2, May
and Baker 693 and 760 and fed frozen Australian mutton specially flown
in. All the troops died within 4 days of being admitted to hospital.
The 70 per cent who waited 2 days for road blocks to be cleared
recovered in 10 days on a diet of fresh food. The use of Vitamin B1
and B2 continued to cause severe side-effects and death as all the
medical books linked Beriberi with Thiamine and B2 with Pellagra. ln
the Gambia there must be local fungi and mycotoxins. The milled rice
imported from Thailand would contain a different group of mycotoxins.
A "cocktail" of mycotoxins can cause death and disease and the way to
prevent this is to sun-dry local millet and keep it dry. This can be
done in the dry season and the dried grain stored in airtight cans and
drums. Currently, 40 to 60 per cent of the millet is lost to man.
Better storage would increase the supply of food. Imported rice should
be controlled for fungi and mycotoxins. This may mean training a
mycotoxicologist and this training should cover not just Aflatoxin.
The cure for all fungal diseases is fresh food not Vitamin B1 and B2.
Thiamine will cure athiaminosis of the Funk Syndrome, not the Mouldy
Grain and the Bloody-mindedness diseases.
A. Ramsay Tainsh, MBE
Ostermalmsgatan 61
S-114 50 Stocholm, Sweden
ECHO Newsletter
ECH2O2 Inc. P.O. Box
126 Delano, MN 55328
OUTBREAK OF BERIBERI IN THE GAMBIA
By A. Ramsay Tainsh, MBE
(Ref: The Lancet July 22, 1989)
Beriberi has come to mean, to many English speakers, a disease caused
by the lack of Thiamine or Vitamin B1 in the diet. Dry and Wet
Beriberi are fungal diseases caused by the consumption of rice milled
in China and Japan. ln these regions paddy is harvested in the monsoon
and when winds fail the crops are attacked by a mildew called
Penicillium citreoviride: it is not toxic in the field. However, if
this paddy is stored before it is thoroughly dried it forms a
mycotoxin called Citreoviridin. This toxin remains on milled and
polished rice. One serving of such rice caused Dry Beriberi or Shoshin
Kakke. The patient is acutely ill in 5 hours and may die in great pain
in 3 days. From 1600 to 1900 it was the very rich and the middle
classes who suffered from Dry Beriberi as they could afford to
purchase ready to cook rice. Those who hand or foot pounded paddy into
brown rice, smelt the paddy and sun-dried it. This destroyed most of
the poison and the rest was washed out. The paddy not damaged by
mildew but not thoroughly sun-dried developed storage fungi which
caused Wet Beriberi or Kakke. Even rewetted rice imported from China
did cause Wet Beriberi. Paddy harvested in the dry season as in
Thailand, Burma and most of lndia, developed other storage fungi and
mycotoxins and caused many different diseases dependent on the mixture
of mycotoxins. ln 1941-45 the troops on the Bengal, Burma and Manipur
fronts developed not Beriberi or Pellagra but many other fungal
diseases. The cure for all of them was "Protective Foods". These
included fresh fish, fresh fruits, vegetables, roots, spices, herbs,
onion and garlic. These are called Very diluted Hydrogen
peroxide may be taken orally. lt destroys the poisons produced by
viruses, bacteria, fungi, yeasts and zooids. Between May 18 and July
18 1942 I fed 20,000 men, women and children of 27 different
nationalities trekking out of North Burma and lost only 18. They died
when given whisky in tea, allopathic drugs and Vitamin B1 and B2. My
warnings of the dangers of using Vitamin B1 and B2 and allopathic
drugs were ignored. Of the 20,000 refugees reaching Margherita on foot
2,000 died within 4 days of being admitted to hospital. ln 1944
following the successful battle of Kohima fought on a diet of damp
spoilt food without "Protective Foods" all the troops became ill. They
had plenty of food so it was not called "Malnutrition" but diagnosed
as "Battle Fatigue". Thirty per cent of the 7th Indian division were
admitted to hospital. They were treated with Vitamin B1 and B2, May
and Baker 693 and 760 and fed frozen Australian mutton specially flown
in. All the troops died within 4 days of being admitted to hospital.
The 70 per cent who waited 2 days for road blocks to be cleared
recovered in 10 days on a diet of fresh food. The use of Vitamin B1
and B2 continued to cause severe side-effects and death as all the
medical books linked Beriberi with Thiamine and B2 with Pellagra. ln
the Gambia there must be local fungi and mycotoxins. The milled rice
imported from Thailand would contain a different group of mycotoxins.
A "cocktail" of mycotoxins can cause death and disease and the way to
prevent this is to sun-dry local millet and keep it dry. This can be
done in the dry season and the dried grain stored in airtight cans and
drums. Currently, 40 to 60 per cent of the millet is lost to man.
Better storage would increase the supply of food. Imported rice should
be controlled for fungi and mycotoxins. This may mean training a
mycotoxicologist and this training should cover not just Aflatoxin.
The cure for all fungal diseases is fresh food not Vitamin B1 and B2.
Thiamine will cure athiaminosis of the Funk Syndrome, not the Mouldy
Grain and the Bloody-mindedness diseases.
A. Ramsay Tainsh, MBE
Ostermalmsgatan 61
S-114 50 Stocholm, Sweden
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