In 1882 − 3, many Japanes , e sailors suffered from beriberi and some died in warships . Japanese govemment started a committee to prevent beriberl . A paralle 皇controlled triaHbr beriberi was carried out in l 884 by Kanehiro Takagi who had studied a乳 St Thomas Hospital in London and noticed a remarkable difference in the frequency ofberiberi between Japan and Lundon. He dete ined the ratio ofnitrogen to carbon content of food taken by the crew of warship ノ -乃 観 o which sailed f}om Japan to

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... ii via Chile and resuhed in an ユiserable occurrence of ber{ beri . Carbon content in the fbod was bigher during the voyage f 辷 om Chile to Hawaii than that from Hawaii to Japan , the latter of which brought about beriberi much less frequently . These data prompted Dr . Takagi a trial voyage under similar conditions except partially replacing polished rice with meat in crew ' s diet . Dr . Takagi postulated the Emperor on importance of diet during the trial voyage . Warship Tsukuba set out on the trial voyage in February ,1884 and arrived at Hawaii without any beriberi patient . The success in preventing beriberi led to taking fbod without polished rice in Japanese navy , w 鍼ile Japanese army and prof ヒssors in Tokyo Imperia玉Unlversity neglected 窰 hese data due to an erroneous assumption 重hat beriberi might be in 魚 ct { ous . A mistaken trust in polished rice had prevailed in Japan unt 圭 1 1923when vitamln BI deilclency derived from polished rice was revealed as a cause ofberiberi . Thereafter , the incidence ofberiberi has decreased dramatically .