>
> Lack of Thiamin causes beriberi, doesn't it? Beriberi was once a major
> disease in Japan, before they started eating a more "western" diet.
>
Not necessarily.  I heard a few times that when the Japanese ate brown
rice they had no beri-beri.  Only when the westerners came who preferred
polished rice and they adapted to that kind of eating they developed the
disease.
Later on with when eating more variety of foods the rachitis went away.
Thomas, could there be any reference in Japan on that?
We have some information here about it because the Dutch were for a long
time the only traders allowed near Japan. But as it is in an archive in
The Hague I don't come there too often.

Christy