Eva,

thiamin works as a coenzyme which means it is *used up* in the process
of glycolysis (first breakdown step for glucose).
This means thiamin is necessary in a minimum ratio to carbohydrate.
If you eat very little carbohydrate (like low-carb) your thiamin need
decreases. One way to relax your thiamin need.

If you eat processed food ("refined") or cooked food then you get less
thiamin than the original source had. The pathway to break down
carbohydrate is (almost) the same in all living beeings from bacteria
over plants to animals and humans. So if you eat cooked or refined food
you loose some of the thiamin the original source had itself and
therefore you loose the ability to make glucose to energy.
Unless the original source had more thiamin than necessary to break down
it's own carb storages. Most grains have more thiamin as carb storage,
probably in expectation for new glucose to come in from photosynthesis.

Beriberi means exately this: not enough thiamin to use the carb energy
(glucose). This goes as far as the muscles of the heart and the nerves
don't have enough energy to work anymore. The subject dies of beeing
unable to breath, work the heart, move gut contents, operate the brain.

Beriberi is prevented by less-than optimal quantities of thiamine.
The heart and brain work.
But some glucose will be left in the blood, and the body has no means to
discard it from the blood. (Should lead to insulin resistance I would
expect).

Here you have a list of thiamin sources with their ratio to the carb:
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?A2=ind9907&L=paleofood&P=R125
More discussion on this is in the archives. Like:
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S2=paleofood&q=thiamin+and+ratio&a=jan+99

The most thiamin per weight have sunflower seeds (2.0mg/100g) and pork
is not bad (0.9mg/100g, uncooked).
Pork is in the range most seeds (including nuts) have (~0.5-0.7 mg/100g)
while from grains you'd have to eat bigger amounts anyway, and while
pork has no own carb.
The best source per kcal (which reflects the amount you could eat per
day) is yeast (18 mg per 1000kcal, pork is 5.5 sunflower is 3.3).

Who said that paleo humans didn't eat seeds?

regards

Amadeus S.

Eva Hedin wrote:
> Hello
> Today I'll try to write something without it being a reply even though it in fact is a reply.
> I looked up about beriberi. It is singales language and beri means weakness. When you say it twice, "beriberi" it means "big weakness". It affects muscles and neurology; you loose perception of touch and the heart works in a weak way which causes fluid to stay in your tissue. Not nice. The chines described the condition 2600 BC.
> I also looked up what food contains thiamine and found that practically all food has some thiamine except fats. The food richest in thiamine is pork - lentils and grain has less but more than any vegetable that I could find in my book. Very rich were soy beans. Since paleodiet means no seeds of any kind (do you agree?) it must mean that if we eat a variety of veges, meat and fish there would be no beriberi. Is'nt it likely that beriberi in Japan meant that those that got it only ate rice; that they were in fact very poor? As far as I know the condition was unknown of in Sweden in the old days even though people were very poor. Perhaps because we ate peas, cabbage, pork and fish and only rich people could eat sugar and white flour?!
> Eva
> PS When I wrote "only the slaughter and..." I meant it to be "only the butcher and God knows...". I meant no disregard. Sorry!
>