Vitamin B1 - Benefits, Deficiency Symptoms And Food Sources

Vitamin B1, known as thiamin, helps fuel your body by converting blood sugar into energy. It keeps your mucous membranes healthy and is essential for nervous system, cardiovascular and muscular function.

Vitamin B1 is a water-soluble vitamin. There are two categories: water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins. Water-soluble vitamins, which include the B-complex group and vitamin C, travel through the bloodstream.

Functions and benefits of Vitamin B1

Thiamin is important for the normal functioning of nerves in human body; it is necessary for the synthesis of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter which affects several brain functions including memory. Apart from Alzheimer, thiamin is also prescribed to treat nervous disorders disease like multiple sclerosis, Bell’s palsy and neuritis.

Most cells in the body depend on sugar as an energy source. When oxygen is used to help convert sugar into usable energy, the process of energy generation is called aerobic energy production. This process cannot take place without adequate supplies of vitamin B1, since B1 is part of an enzyme system that enables oxygen-based processing of sugar.

Vitamin B1 functions in this energy-production capacity, it is usually present in the form of TDP, or thiamin diphosphate.

Recommended Dosage for Vitamin B1

Women should have to take 1.1 milligrams every day, and men should have to take 1.5 milligrams every day.

Food sources of Vitamin B1

Some of the best food sources of vitamin B1 include peanuts, sunflower seeds, beans, beef liver, pork, seafood and egg yolks. Thiamine is found naturally in the following foods, each of which contains at least 0.1mg of the vitamin per 28-100g : Green peas, Spinach, Liver, Beef, Pork, Navy beans, Nuts, Pinto beans, Soybeans, Whole-grain and Enriched Cereals, Breads, Yeast, and Legumes.

Deficiency Symptoms of Vitamin B1

Its ability to disrupt the body's energy production, one of the first symptoms of vitamin B1 deficiency is loss of appetite that reflects the body's listlessness and malaise.

Inability of the nervous system to ensure proper muscle tone in the GI tract can lead to indigestion or constipation, and muscle tenderness, particularly in the calf muscles.

Other symptoms related to nerve dysfunction are commonly associated with thiamin deficiency, since the myelin sheaths wrapping the nerves cannot be correctly made without adequate thiamin. These nerve-related symptoms include "pins and needles" sensations or numbness, especially in the legs.

Systemic thiamine deficiency can lead to myriad problems including neurodegeneration, wasting, and death. A lack of thiamine can be caused by malnutrition, alcoholism, a diet high in thiaminase-rich foods and foods high in anti-thiamine factors .

Well-known syndromes caused by thiamine deficiency include Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome and beriberi, diseases also common with chronic alcoholism.

Alien writes for Vitamins and Minerals . He also writes for vitamins world and you can get more information on Vitamin B1 .

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