What Is Vitamin B1? What Is Thiamine?

Editor's Choice
Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 18 Mar 2011 - 4:00 PDT


Vitamin B1, also known as Thiamine or Thiamin, is a water-soluble vitamin of the B complex. Water-soluble means it can dissolve in water. We need vitamin B1 so that our body can use carbohydrates as energy - it is essential for glucose metabolism. Vitamin B1 also plays a key role in nerve, muscle and heart function.

Vitamins are categorized by the materials they dissolve in. There are two types of vitamins - water-soluble and fat-soluble. Water-soluble vitamins are carried through the bloodstream. Whatever our bodies do not use up is eliminated in urine. Therefore, we need a continuous supply of vitamin B1 - we need to be consuming it daily.

Thiamine is a co-enzyme - it helps some enzymes work properly.

Vitamin B1 is found in high concentrations in the outer layers and germ of cereals, as well as in yeast, beef, pork, nuts, wholegrains, and pulses.

People with vitamin B1 deficiency can develop beriberi, a disease characterized by heart, nerve and digestive disorders. When there is too much vitamin B1 there may be a risk that cancer cells grow faster.

Recommended daily intake of vitamin B1

Most nations set the recommended daily intake of vitamin B1 at 1.1 milligrams for females and 1.5 milligrams for males.

The Institute of Medicine, USA, recommends the following per day:

• Infants 0 to 6 months, 0.2 mg
• Infants 7 to 12 months, 0.3 mg
• Children 1 to 3 years, 0.5 mg
• Children 4 to 8 years, 0.6 mg
• Boys 9 to 13 years, 0.9 mg
• Males 14 years and older 1.2 mg
• Girls 9 to 13 years, 0.9 mg
• Females 14 to 18 years, 1 mg
• Females over 18 years, 1.1 mg
• Pregnant females, 1.4 mg
• Breast-feeding females, 1.5 mg

Uses of Thiamine

Some patients take thiamine for thiamine deficiency syndromes, when their levels of vitamin B1 are too low, including those with beriberi, peripheral neuritis (inflammation of the nerves outside the brain) associated with pregnancy, or pellagra (a vitamin-deficiency disease).

Patients with ulcerative colitis, persistent diarrhea, and poor appetite may also be given thiamine.

Thiamine may also be used for patients with:

• Aging
• AIDS
• Alcohol dependency
• Canker sores
• Cataracts, glaucoma and other vision problems
• Cerebellar syndrome (type of brain damage)
• Cervical cancer to slow down or stop its progression
• Diabetic pain
• Heart Disease
• Kidney disease (patients with diabetes type 2)
• Motion sickness
• Weakened immune systems
• Wernicke's encephalopathy syndrome (a memory disorder)

Patients in coma may be given thiamine shots.

Athletes may use thiamine to help improve their performance.

Can thiamine interact with foods?

Tea and coffee - tannins, chemicals that exist in coffee and tea, may interact with thiamine. Tannins can convert thiamine into a more difficult form for the body to absorb, leading to possible thiamine deficiency. The NIH (National Institutes of Health) reported on a community in rural Thailand with considerably higher rates of vitamin B1 deficiency where people drank at least one liter of tea per day or chewed on fermented tea leaves for many years. Scientists stress that the risk of thiamine deficiency caused by coffee/tea consumption is only a potential problem if the person has a low vitamin B1 or C intake. They reported that vitamin C appears to prevent the interaction between tannins and thiamine.

Raw freshwater seafood - there are chemicals in shellfish and fish that can destroy thiamine. If you eat large quantities of raw shellfish or fish long-term there is a higher risk of having a vitamin B1 deficiency. This is not the case if these foods are cooked. Cooking destroys the chemicals which interact with thiamine.

Written by Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

• Additional
• References
• Citations