Vitamin B1 Healing Properties, Deficiency Symptoms and Precautions

Posted on December 19, 2007 by TDR in Vitamins

Vitamin B1 or thiamine, as it is more commonly referred to now, is one of the most important members of the B group of vitamins. Also known as aneurin, vitamin B1 is anti-beriberi and anti-neuritis. It is water-soluble.

Vitamin B1, in the form of thiamine hydrochloride, is a white crystalline powder with a yeast-like odor and a salty taste. It is readily soluble in water and slightly soluble in alcohol. In dry form, this vitamin is very stable and not sensitive to atmospheric oxidation or deterioration. However, in a soluble form, it is destroyed soon.

Symptoms of Vitamin B1 or Thiamin

  1. A lack of sufficient thiamine in the diet can cause loss of appetite, poor digestion, chronic constipation, loss of weight, mental depression, nervous exhaustion, and insomnia.
  2. It can lead to muscular weakness, leg cramps, slow heartbeat, irritability, defective hydrochloric acid production in the stomach and consequent digestive disorders.
  3. In case of insufficient supply of thiamine in the body, the heart muscles become lazy and fatigued, to the scalp to the extent that hair may fall and new hair may grow very slowly.
  4. Deficiency of thiamine can be induced by excessive use of alcohol, dietary sugar, and processed and refined foods.

Vitamin B1 Healing Properties And Precautions

  1. Taken in large therapeutic doses of up to 50,000 mcg a day, thiamine is beneficial in the treatment of constipation and other digestive disorders, neuritis and other nervous troubles, as well as mental depression.
  2. It is life saving in the treatment of cardiovascular disease related to beriberi and infantile beriberi.
  3. Thiamine is also used with beneficial results in the treatment of alcoholism, insomnia, and stress.
  4. There is no known toxic effect of thiamine.
  5. Any excess is excreted in the urine and not stored in any degree in the tissues or organs.
  6. However rare symptoms of overdose include tremors, herpes, oedema, nervousness, rapid heartbeat, and allergies.
  7. In rare cases excessive supply of this vitamin may also adversely affect thyroid and insulin production.

Thiamine is absorbed from the small intestine. The capacity of the human intestine to absorb this vitamin is limited to about 5 mg per day. Thiamine undergoes a change in the intestinal mucosa. Approximately 25 to 30 mg are stored in this changed form in the body. Large amounts of thiamine are present in the skeletal muscles, heart, liver, kidneys, and brain. This vitamin cannot, however, be stored to a large extent in the human body. So an adequate daily intake is necessary. Any excess supply of thiamine is excreted in the urine.

Heat applied in cooking destroys this vitamin. The loss is significant when vegetables are cooked in excessive water which is thrown away afterward. The addition of sodium carbonate (cooking soda) in some vegetables further increases the destruction of this vitamin. Thiamine is well retained in cereals, since they are generally cooked slowly and at moderate temperatures; the cooking water is also retained. Baked products lose about 15 percent of their original thiamine. Generally the losses in cooking meat are greater than in cooking other foods, ranging from 25 to 50 percent of the raw value. Other destroyers of thiamine are caffeine, alcohol, food-processing methods, and sulphur drugs.

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