Human-milk Intoxication due to B1 Avitaminosis

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Abstract
Breast-milk-intoxication, human-milk intoxication or infantile beriberi may be caused by other intermediary metabolites than methylglyoxal which is found in the milk of B1-avitaminotic [female][female]. The action of these several compounds would appear to be synergistic and cumulative, and the accumulation of these products in human milk may occur during conditions other than B1 deficiency, i.e. conditions of disordered carbohydrate metabolism as diabetes, acidosis, etc. The occurrence of milk intoxication among infants brought to one Hong Kong welfare center in 1939 was 18%. Findings at necropsy fail to show any significant pathological lesions to account for death, which occurs suddenly. The high incidence of B1 deficiency can be attributed to the consumption of a diet rich in carbo-hydrates and poor in B1, i.e. largely milled rice.