I am not alone in my view that anorexia is beriberi and can be prevented by use of vitamin supplements. The world’s leading orthomolecular physicians recently issued a press release expressing the same opinion. This press release has been reposted by two alternative health websites.

Primary care physicians walked away in frustration from anorexia long ago. They refer patients to specialists who believe that anorexia is a psychiatric disorder. Don’t expect my words to influence these specialists. Try to put yourself in their place. How would you react if you were a psychiatrist specializing in anorexia and you were told that anorexia was going to disappear because it is a thiamine deficiency disease? How would you feel if you were asked to help test the hypothesis that the simple act of providing children with fat-soluble forms of thiamine in addition to vitamin C, niacin, and multivitamins would prevent the disease?

You can see for yourself the reaction of an anorexia expert by going to the talk page at the “anorexia nervosa” entry at Wikipedia. I added a section on prevention which has been deleted by this expert. I am trying to persuade this expert to undo the deletion. This exchange has proven that anorexia specialists have indeed forgotten about beriberi. This expert told me that my claim that anorexia was an acknowledged clinical marker of beriberi was incorrect. But my claim is correct – the modern medical community has genuinely forgotten.

Many primary care physicians and anorexia specialists are going to react similarly. I’m afraid that parents concerned that their daughters might be showing signs of anorexia are on their own if they are interested in trying to prevent anorexia with supplements.