Juan Sanchez Salcedo Jr. (September 23, 1904[3] – October 25, 1988)[2][1] was a Filipino physician and scientist who specialized in biochemistry, nutrition and public health.

[7] In 1948, the survey, led by Dr. Juan Salcedo, Jr. and a team including Dr. M. D. Bamba and three other medical officers, aimed to assess beriberi in the Philippines.

Findings revealed that beriberi cases were uniformly distributed across different age and physiological groups, affecting 12.8% of those examined, with mortality highest in infants.

The experiments showed that thiamine-enriched polished white rice significantly decreased beriberi rates among at-risk populations.

[7] Salcedo was credited as the developer of a rice variety fortified with thiamine which helped reduce the cases of beriberi in the Philippines and in other countries.

[6] In 1949, Salcedo, along with Alfonso Pedroche, Elpedio C. Panganiban and Jose F. De Leon, conducted preliminary field trials in the Philippines involving artificially enriched white rice with 3,500 participants.

In limited observations, some members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, who were participants for the trials, received beneficial effects on peripheral neuritis.

[2] He received the William J. Gies Fellow in Biochemistry at Columbia University, and was President of the 5th World Health Organization Assembly.

[7] In writing his biography, Salcedo recalls that President Ramon Magsaysay had promised support for rice enrichment but ultimately did not deliver.

His successor, Carlos P. Garcia, established a committee to study the act's implementation, but its work was delayed and eventually stalled due to opposition and lobbying from influential rice millers.