Kathrin LaFaver interviews fellow neurologist Madhureeta Achari on the nutritional deficiencies she checks for and why she invites her patients to the farmers market. As the brain is particularly sensitive to thiamine deficiency, are intracellular thiamine and thiamine phosphate levels increased in the brain of mice after oral benfotiamine administration? Lipid-soluble thiamine derivatives were developed mainly in Japan for the treatment of beriberi . It was therefore surprising that sulbutiamine appeared to exert specific effects on brain function. Bariatric Surgery : Bariatric surgery today is the only effective therapy for morbid obesity, which has increased steadily over the past several decades.