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GLOSSARY
Vitamin B1: Oryzanin
As early as 1897 it was known that beriberi (a disease caused by B1 deficiency) could result from a diet heavily dependent on polished rice. A few years later, in 1910, Suzuki Umetaro of Tokyo University discovered a component in rice-bran that was effective in checking beriberi and he succeeded in isolating this component; he called it Oryzanin after the botanical term for rice, Oryza sativa.
In 1911, Oryzanin was marketed: it was the first vitamin compound. The word "vitamin" was not actually coined until one year later, by Casimir Funk,during the course of research into an extract of rice bran. He named this extract "vitamine", an abbreviation of "vital amine".Beriberi- the symptoms of which are neuritis, Ioss of appetite and, in later stages, heart failure accompanied by oedema- has been largely eradicated in Japan due to the availability of B1 compounds such as Oryzanin. Also, progressively, thiol-type B1 derivatives are being used for the treatment of various other diseases. In 1968, Japan produced the world's largest output of B1 and B1 derivatives-593 tons.