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Vitamin B1 Deficiency

Vitamin B1, also known as thiamine, is an essential micronutrient. It helps the body function by creating energy from food and turning it into fuel for mitochondria. Thiamine is crucial for processing carbohydrates like sugars and starches. A thiamin deficiency can result in several health problems including confusion, seizures, shortness of breath, brain disease, coma, and more.

Food sources of thiamine include whole grains, legumes, and some meats and fish. Grain processing removes much of the thiamine content, so in many countries cereals and flours are enriched with thiamine. Supplements and medications are available to treat and prevent thiamine deficiency and disorders that result from it, including beriberi and Wernicke encephalopathy. Other uses include the treatment of maple syrup urine disease and Leigh syndrome. They are typically taken by mouth, but may also be given by intravenous or intramuscular injection.

Benefits of B1:

• Thiamin helps prevent complications in the nervous system, brain, muscles, heart, stomach, and intestines.
• It is also involved in the flow of electrolytes into and out of muscle and nerve cells.
• It helps prevent beriberi diseases, which involve disorders of the heart, nerves, and digestive system.
• Thiamine is considered a form of vitamin B that is water-soluble. It helps to convert what you eat and drink into energy or glucose.
• Thiamine vitamins are necessary for keeping the liver, skin, hair, and eyes healthy. They also play a role in the nervous system and are needed for good brain function.
• The B vitamins are sometimes called anti-stress vitamins because they boost the body’s immune system during stressful times.

Symptoms:

• Ataxia is a degenerative disease of the nervous system. Many symptoms of Ataxia are similar to those of being drunk, such as slurred speech, stumbling, falling, and poor coordination.
• Confusion. You may experience the inability to think or reason in a focused, clear manner.
• Nystagmus. Nystagmus is a vision condition in which the eyes make repetitive, uncontrolled movements.
• Irritability. Feelings of frustration or anger, often over seemingly small matters, may occur.
• Seizure. A seizure is a burst of uncontrolled electrical activity between brain cells (also called neurons or nerve cells) that causes temporary abnormalities in muscle tone or movements (e.g. stiffness, twitching, or limpness).
• Papilledema. Papilledema is a severe medical condition where the optic nerve at the back of the eye becomes swollen.
• Tachycardia. This condition results in a rapid heartbeat that may be regular or irregular but is out of proportion to age and exertion or activity level.
• Mood changes. Mood swings refer to rapid changes in mood. The term may refer to minor or significant mood changes on a daily basis.
• Edema. More commonly known as swelling, edema is puffiness caused by excess fluid trapped in the body’s tissues.
• Dyspnea. This condition results in shortness of breath. However, it can have causes that aren’t due to underlying disease.
• Sensory-Motor Polyneuropathy. This condition is a body-wide (systemic) process that damages nerve cells, nerve fibers, and nerve coverings. Damage to the covering of the nerve cell causes nerve signals to slow or stop.

Well-known disorders caused by thiamine deficiency include beriberi, Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome, optic neuropathy, Leigh’s disease, African seasonal ataxia (or Nigerian seasonal ataxia), and central pontine myelinolysis.