Vitamins in metabolism

Figure 53.1 The role of water-soluble vitamins in metabolism.

Beriberi is the deficiency disease. It appears in individuals on an exclusive diet of polished rice, and results in neuritic symptoms and disturbances of heart functions. Some of the deficiency symptoms can be explained on the basis of the role of the vitamin in metabolism. Similar symptoms can be evoked artificially in birds (polyneuritis). Some evidence points to a role of thiamine in neural physiology in any case, nerves contain unusually large amounts of thiamine. 

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