Clinically, a decreased gastric acidity has been reported a number of times in severe cases of beriberi. Experimentally, both a decreased acidity as well as a diminished secretion have been observed in dogs kept on a beriberi producing diet. Myadere, however, reported that in such an experimental dog the gastric glands could still be stimulated to a normal secretion by alcohol taken by mouth.
The purpose of the studies I am reporting on was, first, to confirm the change in the volume and character of the gastric secretion in experimental beriberi; second, to confirm the changes therein during a recovery from beriberi as a result of a normal or control diet; third, to determine the change, if any, in the response of the gastric secretion to such stimulants as histamin and gastrin as compared with a food stimulus; fourth, to prove that the antineuritic water soluble B is not a