• Home

Home > Medical Reference > Encyclopedia (English)

Toggle: English / Spanish

Beriberi

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Treatment
• Prevention

Definition:

Beriberi is a vitamin deficiency disease in which the body does not have enough thiamine (vitamin B1).

Alternative Names:

Thiamine deficiency; Vitamin B1 deficiency

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

There are two major types of beriberi:

• Wet beriberi affects the cardiovascular system.
• Dry beriberi and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome affect the nervous system.

Beriberi is now rare in the United States because most foods are now vitamin-enriched, which means that if you eat a normal, healthy diet you get enough thiamine. Today, beriberi occurs mostly in patients who abuse alcohol, because drinking heavily can lead to bad nutrition and makes it harder for the body to absorb and store thiamine.

There is a rare condition known as genetic beriberi. This condition is inherited (passed down through families). People with genetic beriberi lose the ability to absorb thiamine from foods. This can happen slowly over time and symptoms occur when the person is an adult. However, since beriberi may not be considered in non-alcoholics, this diagnosis is often missed.

Beriberi can also occur in breast-fed infants when the mother's body is lacking in thiamine. The condition can also affect infants who are fed unusual formulas with inadequate thiamine supplements.

Dialysis and high doses of diuretics raise your risk of beriberi.

• Review Date: 7/21/2006
• Reviewed By: Benjamin W. Van Voorhees, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org). URAC's accreditation program is the first of its kind, requiring compliance with 53 standards of quality and accountability, verified by independent audit. A.D.A.M. is among the first to achieve this important distinction for online health information and services. Learn more about A.D.A.M.'s editorial process . A.D.A.M. is also a founding member of Hi-Ethics (www.hiethics.com) and subscribes to the principles of the Health on the Net Foundation (www.hon.ch).

The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. Copyright 1997-2007 A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.