Did you realize that thiamin deficiency can be caused by your environment? In the old days, beriberi was associated with the consumption of white rice. Nowadays, refined foods are an unlikely cause of thiamin deficiency because they are fortified. We associate deficiency syndromes such as Wernicke’s encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s psychosis primarily with chronic alcoholism. Yet …

The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex catalyzes the one decarboxylation step that carbohydrate undergoes to generate acetyl CoA, which accounts for the one carbon dioxide molecule produced in carbohydrate metabolism that is not produced during the metabolism of fat. It also accounts for why burning carbs requires twice as much thiamin as fat. In fact, the pyruvate …