http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernicke-Korsakoff_syndrome
Price J, Theodorus MT. The supplementation of alcoholic beverages with thiamin: a necessary preventative measure in Queensland. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 1979; 13: 315-320.
Wernicke's encephalopathy and thiamine fortification of food: time for a new direction?
We should be fortifying beer to target the people who develop this disorder
MJA 1998; 9168: 534-535
Although the occurrence of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome in Australia appears to have been reduced by thiamine fortification of bread, it has not been eliminated. As nearly all cases occur in heavy alcohol drinkers, beer is probably a more appropriate vehicle for thiamine nutrification than bread. Prominent psychiatrist Eric Dax first suggested this 30 years ago. Beer is the preferred beverage of patients presenting with Wernicke's encephalopathy; the taste of thiamine hydrochloride can merge with the flavour of beer (but not with that of table wine); and it has been estimated that addition of thiamine to beer would be much more cost-effective than adding it to bread. It is clearly time for Commonwealth and State health authorities, the brewers and the NHMRC to seriously reconsider trialling the addition of thiamine to Australian beers -- to make them nutritionally the best in the world.
Prevalence of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome in Australia: has thiamine fortification made a difference?
Clive G Harper, Donna L Sheedy, Ana I Lara, Therese M Garrick, John M Hilton and Jack Raisanen
MJA 1998; 168: 542-545
Although there has been a significant decrease in the prevalence of WKS in Australia since the introduction of thiamine enrichment of bread flour in 1991, the rate is still higher than in most other Western countries and there is a need to maintain vigilance in the management of patients, particularly those with known or suspected alcohol problems.
Aust N Z J Public Health. 1996 Apr;20(2):181-7.
Preventing the Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome in Australia: cost-effectiveness of thiamin-supplementation alternatives.
Connelly L, Price J.
"Alcoholic Wernicke's encephalopathy has been commonplace in Australia for many years and, as this syndrome is attributed to a deficiency in the diet, it should be preventable. This study employs conventional cost-effectiveness methodology to compare the economic efficiency of several thiamin-supplementation alternatives that have been proposed for the prevention of Wernicke's encephalopathy. A series of rankings of these measures is derived from an estimated cost per case averted for each of the alternatives studied. These rankings identify the least cost-effective thiamin-supplementation alternative as that of enriching bread-making flour with thiamin."
Can someone tell me why thiamine is not added to alcoholic beverages ?
