Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) - Learning Is Not Difficult At All!

Hi, welcome back as in the last blog I mentioned that we are going to start the vitamins series and we discussed Vitamin A. If you are new to this blog, please check out my previous post about Vitamin A and make your life way easier to live healthy.

Today, I am going to talk about Vitamin B.

Vitamin B which is also known as Vitamin B complex is a series of eight vitamins. I will discuss each B vitamin separately.

Vitamin B complex:

1. Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
2. Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
3. Vitamin B3 (Niacin)
4. Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid)
5. Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)
6. Vitamin B7 (Biotin)
7. Vitamin B9 (folate)
8. Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin)

Let’s start today with Vitamin B1 (Thiamine):

Vitamin B1 which is also known as thiamine is a water-soluble vitamin. B1 was the first vitamin B complex that scientist (Eijkman) discovered in 1897. That’s why we put 1 with Thiamine. Our body cannot synthesize it and needed in small amounts for the proper functioning of tissues.

Functions of Vitamin B1 (Thiamine):

Following are some important functions of vitamin B1:

• Involves in carbohydrate metabolism
• Important for the proper functioning of the nervous system
• Help in ATP (energy) production
• Maintains the muscle tone
• Stabilizing the appetite
• Keeps our skin, eyes, hair, and liver healthy
• It’s an anti-stress vitamin.
• It helps to strengthen our immune system and improves the abilities of our body to withstand in the stressful situations

Now let’s discuss what happens when a person has a deficiency of Vitamin B1.

Deficiency of Vitamin B1 (Thiamine):

Vitamin B1 deficiency is known as Beriberi. It was first discovered in 1912 by a Polish Biochemist “Casimir Funk”, who isolated it from brown rice. And he gave the name to vitamin B as the “Anti beriberi factor”.

There are three different types of vitamin B1deficiency;

1. Wet Beriberi
2. Dry Beriberi
3. Infantile Beriberi

Now let’s discuss these types.

Wet Beriberi:

This type of thiamine deficiency occurs in adults. In wet beriberi cardiovascular system is affected and in extreme conditions, wet beriberi can cause heart failure. Symptoms include shortness of breath and rapid heart rate.

Dry Beriberi:

This type of beriberi is also present in adults. In dry beriberi, the central nervous system is affected and it also causes muscle wasting. Symptoms of dry beriberi are mental confusion, vomiting, pain, loss of muscle coordination, pricking sensation in lower limbs, strange eye movement which is known as nystagmus.

Infantile Beriberi:

This type of thiamine deficiency occurs in infants and causes infantile beriberi. It occurs in children when the breastfeeding mother is not taking an adequate amount of vitamin B1. Symptoms of infantile beriberi are weight loss, diarrhea, pale skin, and vomiting.

Toxicity of Vitamin B1 (thiamine):

It is water-soluble vitamin does not store in the body so the toxic level of thiamine is unlikely to reach. If a person will reach that level then it will be less absorption of nutrients in the body.

Food sources of vitamin B1 (Thiamine):

Thiamine rich food sources are out coatings of grains like wheat, yeast, and rice.

Good sources are whole cereals, nut, pulses and it is fairly present in liver, egg, fish, and meat.

Recommended Daily Allowance of B1 (Thiamine):

Recommended Daily Allowance of B1 for males is 1.2 mg while for females are 1.1 mg over 18 years. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should consume 1-4 mg per day.

Conclusion:

Vitamins are very important for proper body functioning. Vitamin B1 helps in carbohydrate metabolism. The deficiency of thiamine leads to serious health conditions. We can prevent the deficiency of thiamine by taking an adequate amount of thiamine food sources.

In the next blog, I will discuss Vitamin B2 which is also known as riboflavin. So, stay with me and get this health information for your better and healthy lifestyle.

In the end, I would like to say if you have any questions, feel free to ask down in the comment or you can contact me by filling up the contact us form. Please share these posts with your family, friends, and your near ones. So that they can get familiar with food more in-depth and live a healthy life.