- Convert carbohydrates into energy
- Help muscles function, including the heart
- Help keep your nervous system working
What Foods Contain Thiamine?
The foods that contain the highest amounts of vitamin B1 include:
- Fortified breads, cereals, pasta
- Whole grains (especially wheat germ)
- Lean meat, especially pork
- Organ meats
- Fish (not raw, but lightly cooked)
- Dried beans, peas and soybeans
What If I Don’t Get Enough Thiamine?
You are putting your body at risk, because here are some of the problems you could have if you don’t get enough B1 in your diet:
- Weakness and fatigue
- Nerve damage
- Muscle damage, including the heart
- Memory loss, confusion
- Depression
- Psychosis
- Brain damage
- Beriberi
I think you’ll agree that none of these are problems you want to have!
Am I at Risk?
You may be at risk for a thiamine deficiency if you:
- Drink alcohol, coffee or tea
- Are a fad dieter
- Binge and purge
- Eat a lot of carbohydrates that are not fortified
- Cook with lots of heat (thiamine starts to break down in heat)
- Have HIV or AIDS
- Are pregnant
- Have cancer or an auto-immune disease
- Have diarrhea or a digestive problem
Can I Take a Supplement? How Much?
Taking a thiamine supplement is one of the best ways to make sure you get enough in your diet. Since your body automatically flushes out the excess B1, you don’t need to worry about an overdose in pill form. (The only possible problems are if you take a very high-dose injection, and even that is extremely rare.)
If you are a healthy adult, you can get by with a supplement that has 100% of the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance), which is currently somewhere around 1.5 mg. If you have any of the risk factors though, seriously think about taking even more. The reason is that very little thiamine is stored in the body, and if you are at risk, that store is depleted and you risk sliding into a real deficiency. You will need extra B1 to replace your body’s stores, plus more to make up for what you need on a daily basis.
Personally, I take extra thiamine as insurance. I drink some coffee and tea, but tend not to eat breads, pasta or breakfast cereals (which all tend to be fortified). B1 is inexpensive, so why take a chance?
(Oh, you may be wondering about coffee and tea. The tannin in tea and the chlorogenic acid in coffee destroy thiamine.)
I do want to mention — if you are pregnant or are under a doctor’s care for a medical condition, first ask your physician if there are any known problems of taking an extra B1 supplement with any other prescription you may be taking.
