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In 1884, [[Takaki Kanehiro]], a surgeon general in the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]], rejected the previous [[Germ theory of disease|germ theory]] for beriberi and suggested instead that the disease was due to insufficiencies in the diet. Switching diets on a navy ship, he discovered that replacing a diet of white rice only with one also containing barley, meat, milk, bread, and vegetables, nearly eliminated beriberi on a nine-month sea voyage. However, Takaki had added many foods to the successful diet and he incorrectly attributed the benefit to increased protein intake, as vitamins were unknown at the time. The Navy was not convinced of the need for such an expensive program of dietary improvement, and many men continued to die of beriberi, even during the [[Russo-Japanese war]] of 1904–5. Not until 1905, after the anti-beriberi factor had been discovered in [[Bran#Rice bran|rice bran]] (removed by [[rice polisher|polishing into white rice]]) and in barley bran, was Takaki's experiment rewarded. He was made a baron in the Japanese peerage system, after which he was affectionately called "Barley Baron".

Translations:Thiamine/43/en - Revision history

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