Vitamin B1 (also known as thiamine) is a water soluble vitamin and is part of the B complex vitamins (a group of eight B vitamins that were initially thought to be the singular vitamin B).  The discovery of vitamin B1 is heavily linked with a condition called beriberi.  During the late nineteenth century a beriberi epidemic broke out in Asia.  This prompted increased research into both the cause of beriberi and a cure. The Dutch physician Christiaan Eijkman was the first person to discover the link between vitamin B1 and beriberi when he realised that feeding chickens unpolished (brown) rice … [Read more...]