CronoDAS comments on Humans are not automatically strategic - Less Wrong

153 Post author: AnnaSalamon 08 September 2010 07:02AM

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Comment author: jimrandomh 09 September 2010 05:08:15PM 5 points [-]

These numbers are uncalibrated estimates (I spent 60s looking for population statistics to use as priors, and didn't find any), but I don't think they're at all unreasonable. Keep in mind that deficiencies come in degrees, and only the most severe ones ever get diagnosed. Anyways, here's a breakdown (again, just estimates) of that 0.95:

P(micronutrient deficiency) = 0.2
P(micronutrient deficiency|no multivitamin) = 0.8
P(micronutrient deficiency|no multivitamin & depressed) = 0.95

I certainly wouldn't say it's the only problem, but it's very likely a contributing factor.

Anyways, we can find this out directly. CronoDAS, could you take a look at the wikipedia page on thiamine, go through the lists of thiamine-containing and thiaminase-containing foods, and estimate your intake? Or better yet, order sulbutiamine and report its effects here?

Comment author: CronoDAS 13 September 2010 04:25:25PM 2 points [-]

From Wikipedia:

Thiamine is found in a wide variety of foods at low concentrations. Yeast and pork are the most highly concentrated sources of thiamine. In general, cereal grains are the most important dietary sources of thiamine, by virtue of their ubiquity. Of these, whole grains contain more thiamine than refined grains, as thiamine is found mostly in the outer layers of the grain and in the germ (which are removed during the refining process). For example, 100 g of whole-wheat flour contains 0.55 mg of thiamine, while 100 g of white flour contains only 0.06 mg of thiamine. In the US, processed flour must be enriched with thiamine mononitrate (along with niacin, ferrous iron, riboflavin, and folic acid) to replace that lost in processing.

Some other foods rich in thiamine are oatmeal, flax, and sunflower seeds, brown rice, whole grain rye, asparagus, kale, cauliflower, potatoes, oranges, liver (beef, pork and chicken), and eggs.

Hmmm... as it turns out, I've been eating quite a lot of thiamine-fortified pasta lately, and it's also in cold cereal, orange juice, and bread. I don't think I have an unusually low amount of thiamine in my diet when compared to the average American.

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