Vitamin sleuths

Beriberi, White Rice and Vitamin B is a classic story. The crippling disease,
once prevalent in the Far East, was found to be the result of a diet of white
rice, deficient in the vitamin. Brown-rice eaters didn’t get it. International
effort culminated in production of synthetic vitamin B or thiamin—familiar
to readers of cornflake packets—and the disease was conquered. Kenneth
Carpenter tells a straightforward tale. Published by University of California
Press, $40, ISBN 05202205396.