> Nardoo, a type of fern, is packed with an enzyme called thiaminase, which is toxic to the human body. Thiaminase breaks down the body's supply of Vitamin B1 [...]
A slightly tortured sentence - B1 is thiamin, so thiaminase is an enzyme that breaks it down by definition, not some sort of (in)convenient coincidence.
(Perhaps it's deliberately avoiding using both 'thiamin' and 'thiaminase' for fear of confusing the poor reader, but I might have opted for 'is packed with an enzyme that breaks down the body's supply of thiamin (vitamin B1)' - or just not name it beyond B1 at all. IANAJournalist, though.)
Aren’t enzymes proteins that aren’t absorbed? Maybe they’ll break down thiamine in the digestive tract, but they shouldn’t really break down the body’s internal stores, right?
>> Body storage of thiamine is minimal, the liver being the main extra-muscular storage site. In young and healthy non-alcoholic individuals, subjective symptoms appear after 2 to 3 weeks of a deficient diet (Brin,1963). Characteristic early symptoms include anorexia, weakness, aching, burning sensation in hands and feet, indigestion, irritability and depression. After 6 to 8 weeks the only objective signs at rest may be a slight fall in blood pressure, and moderate weight loss. After 2 to 3 months apathy and weakness become extreme, calf muscle tenderness develops with loss of recent memory, confusion, ataxia and sometimes persistent vomiting (Anderson et al,1985).
A slightly tortured sentence - B1 is thiamin, so thiaminase is an enzyme that breaks it down by definition, not some sort of (in)convenient coincidence.
(Perhaps it's deliberately avoiding using both 'thiamin' and 'thiaminase' for fear of confusing the poor reader, but I might have opted for 'is packed with an enzyme that breaks down the body's supply of thiamin (vitamin B1)' - or just not name it beyond B1 at all. IANAJournalist, though.)