A CLINICAL STUDY OF MALNUTRITION IN JAPANESE PRISONERS OF WAR

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Abstract
From 8000 captured Japanese prisoners in the Philippine Islands, 1945, 24 of the most severely ill were selected for careful study for wet and dry beri-beri. Twelve were edematous, 12 not edematous. Under 6 weeks of observation with routine history, physical and many detailed laboratory examinations, comparative studies between the two groups were made. All showed weight loss, anemia, hypoproteinemia, intestinal parasites, hypocholesterolemia, low basal metabolic rates, increased urinary creatine, disturbed liver function and increased sedimentation rates compared to 24 controls. None showed heart disease (beri-beri-heart), renal or other disease to account for the clinical picture. Autopsy studies were performed on 10 cases, with evidences of marked starvation atrophy of tissues but no other significant differences between the wet and dry cases. It is concluded that these cases did not represent beri-beri, but rather starvation hypoproteinemia with secondary gastro-intes-tinal dysfunction. With treatment recovery of those that survived was slow.