The energy nutrient (Vitamin B1 or Thiamine)

Welcome back to the "A through Z Journey" Nutrinutters!

I don't know about you, but I do like the sound of that, adds a little mystery to the posts don't you think?

Before I move on to the next vitamin, I would like to thank all of you for accompanying me through this process...I appreciate your support and it has served as great motivation for me.

Now let's move on to the good stuff shall we? If last week's vitamin was the moisturizing nutrient, than we can call this one the energy nutrient. Why's that you ask? Before I explain some of the functions of vitamin B1, also known as Thiamine, here's how it was discovered...

B1 fun facts...

Did you know that vitamin B1 was actually the first vitamin to be recognized? 

It all started in the late 19th and early 20th century back when long sailing voyages were common (don't worry, I won't go tooooo much into history). Mainly in southeast Asia, where rice was the sailors' main food source during these voyages, a disease known as beriberi grew popular among sailors. Beriberi means in Sinhalese "weakness" and it got this name because it was characterized by its victims feeling muscle weakness, energy deprivation and becoming inactive. While searching for the cause of this, it was found that the addition of whole grains to the sailors' diets helped in preventing beriberi. Finally, in mid 1920s it was discovered that the one responsible for this preventive effect was vitamin B1.

Vitamin B1's special participation in the body

One of its main functions is being an energy producer. It is known that energy needed for our bodies comes from carbohydrate; however, it needs to be converted into usable energy for our cells before. This process cannot happen without the presence of vitamin B1 since it plays a crucial role in the process of extracting energy from carbohydrates.

Other than being an energy producer, B1 also acts in the nervous system. It helps a fat-like covering that's present around most nerves to healthy develop. When there is a B1 deficiency, these coverings can degenerate or become damaged.

What happens when I don't have enough Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)?

Since it plays such a crucial role in the body's energy production, one of the first symptoms of deficiency is loss of appetite. Also, like mentioned above, it is strongly related to the nervous system and a deficiency can cause nerve-related symptoms including "pins and needles" sensations or numbness.

Where in foods can I find Vitamin B1?

Some of the common sources are

• unrefined cereals and grains,
• pork,
• beans,
• nuts and seeds.

Unlike Vitamin A, we don't have to worry about whether this vitamin is found actively or not because it is present in foods in the same form - thiamine.
However, there are some substances in a few foods that are called the "anti-thiamine" compounds. Some common ones are found in raw fish, some teas and the frequent consumption of alcohol is a big contributor to B1 deficiency!

Below is a figure showing some foods that are good sources and how many milligrams of vitamin B1 each has. RDA stands for recommended dietary allowances, meaning that the RDA for men and women is the amount of milligrams each one should have of the nutrient.

How much is enough?

Since B1 is so closely related to energy, its recommendation depends on how many calories you have per day. The requirement for adults is 0.5 milligrams per 1000 calories, in average, 1-1.1 milligrams per day for females and for males 1.2-1.5 milligrams. Pregnant and lactating women do have higher needs of 1.4 and 1.5 milligrams respectively.

Vitamin B1, being a water-soluble vitamin, is easily eliminated after your body takes what it needs. Unlike vitamin A, having higher amounts of B1 should not result in presenting toxicity symptoms. However, you do have to be careful since it has potential to be toxic when you take 1000 times more than what is recommended.



This concludes vitamin B1 for you! :)

So far we've covered vitamin A and B1...before you know it, you will be the nutrition experts!

Stay tuned as our journey continues and next week B2 will show you what it's made of!
See you then...

-The Nutrinut-

 

Resources: whfoods.org, Medline plus, mayoclinic.com