Have you ever thought about vitamin B1 before? Well you’re here so I’d say yes! Here we have all of the vitamin B1 information you’d ever need.
Vitamin B1, known in the form of thiamine, is a water-soluble vitamin from the vitamin B complex. It is known as aneurin due to its anti-neuritis properties, but also a “vitamin of good mood” or “vitamin of intellectual performance”.
Thiamine is indispensable for physical and mental health, being recommended for the good functioning of the nervous and digestive systems, but also at the level of the muscles and even the heart.
The water-soluble vitamin, which in the form of pyrophosphate acts as a coenzyme in decarboxylation reactions, is essential for protein and carbohydrate metabolism. At the same time, this is indispensable for brain activity and myelination of peripheral nerves.
Thiamine can be found in brewer’s yeast, vegetables, seeds and nuts, sprouted grains and pork (especially in organs). It is destroyed by boiling because it is unstable at high temperatures.
It is also said that vitamin B1 would be beneficial in maintaining a positive attitude, increasing the energy level and combating stress. Thiamine also contributes to the prevention of memory loss, thus being recommended by specialists for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Thiamine – General Information
As Lwoff Schopfer claimed, since 1964, vitamins of any kind have been essential for all species. Because the body cannot produce and synthesise them completely, these are the exogenous factors.
Thiamine is synergistic with the other vitamins in the B complex (as they are among them); as a result, it is not stored in the body, having to be replaced daily. A perfectly healthy adult should have a reserve of 30 mg of thiamine. The required food intake per day is 0.5 mg/1000 kcal. If this is interrupted, vitamin B1 deficiency appears in 10 to 21 days, the first visible symptom being anorexia.
On the other hand, children under one year need 1 mg of vitamin B1 per day. The need increases with age, gradually reaching that of adults.
Vitamin B1 Information: Its Role In The Body
According to specialist treatises, it was found that vitamin B1 helps:
- normal functioning of the central and peripheral nervous system
- maintaining mental health and the normal functioning of the heart
- modulation of the activity of some membrane channels, with implications in synaptic transmission
- acetylcholine synthesis
- transformation of carbohydrates into lipids
- favouring the deposition of glycogen in the liver
- conversion of pyruvic acid into amino acids.
Administered in the form of thiamine pyrophosphate, it acts as a coenzyme in the decarboxylation reactions essential for protein and carbohydrate metabolism.
Thiamine pyrophosphate (thiamine defined as cocarboxylase) is a derivative of vitamin B1 produced by the enzyme thiamine diphosphokinase. Pyrophosphate is a cofactor present in all living systems, which catalyses several biochemical reactions.
Vitamin B1 Information: Vitamin B1 In Food
Vitamin B1 information is necessary to understand the natural needs of the human body. For a healthy adult, the recommended dose is 100-200 mg of anhydrous thiamine hydrochloride per day. In other situations, it may be necessary to increase the dose by up to 1000 mg/day.
If the daily dose of vitamin B1 is greater than 200 mg, it must be administered in several instalments over 24 hours. In the case of intravenous administration, the product must be injected slowly for more than 10 minutes.
Due to the fact that anaphylactic shock can occur, vitamin B1 is administered intravenously only in medical conditions, with specialised personnel and equipment, so that the means of resuscitation can be available.
At the same time, because it is excreted through breast milk, the intravenous administration of thiamine during breastfeeding is not recommended.
The daily intake of vitamin B1 can be administered through supplements but also from food. Food sources with a high content of vitamin B1 are:
- unhusked cereals: wheat germ, wheat bran, white rice, brown rice
- wholemeal bread
- yeast
- vegetables: soybeans, peas, green beans, dry beans
- fruits: grapefruit, peaches
- egg yolk
- pork (liver and kidney) and poultry
- trout
- others: sunflower seeds, peanuts, nuts
Vitamin B1 is destroyed by boiling because it is unstable at high temperatures. Tea and some foods contain anti-thiamine factors. In developed countries, cereals are enriched with thiamine.
In the case of an overdose, no reactions occur due to the fact that thiamine is not stored in large quantities in the body, and the excess is continuously eliminated through the urine.
Vitamin B1 Information: Symptoms of Vitamin B1 Deficiency
The first symptoms of thiamine deficiency are anorexia, muscle hypotonia, apathy, confusion and irritability. People with behavioural disorders, ophthalmological changes, walking disorders, delirium, encephalopathy, inadequate nutrition, and alcoholics must urgently see a specialist to find out if they have a vitamin B1 deficiency or not. The test is done by collecting blood, in the morning, on an empty stomach.
A lack of thiamine is called “beriberi disease”, and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome may occur. It is characterised by dementia, ataxia and ophthalmoplegia. Thus, the late signs of thiamine deficiency are congestive heart failure, polyneuropathy with diminished reflexes, paresthesia, muscle atrophy, and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome.
In pregnant women, vitamin B deficiency can easily occur due to the increased need for thiamine in the body. This condition can also appear in children who have been breastfed for a long time and whose diet was not diversified in time.
At the same time, most chronic alcoholics have a deficiency of vitamin B1, caused by alcohol’s interference with thiamine metabolism, as well as due to the poor nutrition they have.
The daily requirement of vitamin B1, depending on age and particular physiological situations, is:
- Children up to one year: 0.3-0.4 mg
- Children between 1-10 years: 0.7-1 mg
- Women: 1-1.5 mg
- Men: 1.2-2 mg
- Pregnant women: 1.5 mg
- Women during breastfeeding: 1.6 mg
If the food intake is interrupted, the deficiency of vitamin B1 settles in the body between 10 and 21 days.
3 Benefits of thiamine supplements
The main benefits of supplements based on vitamin B1 are: they give a normal energy yield of the metabolism, contribute to the normal functioning of the nervous system and help the normal functioning of the heart.
As a result, in the case of people with:
- Beriberi disease
- burns
- diabetes
- hyperthyroidism
- psychopaths
- alcoholism
- prolonged treatments with antibiotics or sulfonamides
- neuritis
- pellagra
- supplements in deficient food regimes
- immunosuppressed patients
- patients who have benefited from bariatric surgery
Specialists recommend supplements based on vitamin B1.
In most vitamin B1 supplements, two forms of thiamine are used – thiamine hydrochloride and thiamine mononitrate. Both are synthetic, but thiamine hydrochloride (HCl) is soluble in water, and thiamine mononitrate is not.
The first is more difficult to produce, but it is said to be much more effective as a supplement because the body absorbs it more easily.
Therefore, before taking supplements based on vitamin B1, the advice of a specialist must be taken into account, especially since they are recommended in combination with other Bs.
Vitamin B1 supplements are taken only once a day, either as tablets or dissolved in water. One pill is enough to cover the vitamin b1 requirement for a single day.
There you have it folks, all of the vitamin B1 information you will ever need to destroy anyone in a knowledge competition
