Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) And Why We Need It

Vitamin B1, also known as Thiamine, is needed by the body to help your body by converting blood sugar into energy. Thiamine also helps keep out mucous membranes healthy and is also needed to help in the function of our nervous system, cardiovascular and muscular systems.

Vitamin B supplements are known as water-soluble and because they cannot be stored in the body. Therefore any vitamins that are not used by the body are excreted in the urine. Because of this factor you need a continuous supply of them either in your food or by taking a vitamin B complex supplement daily.

The best source of Vitamin B1 or Thiamine are pork, whole grain cereals, rye or whole-wheat flour, wheat germ or navy and kidey beans.

A deficiency in B1 is rare in the developed countries but infants can have a low B1 if they are feed formula that doesn’t have added B1 or anyone that drinks alcohol to an excess can have the disease known as Beriberi. This condition involves confusion, muscle wasting, nerve problems and a rapid heart rate.

To get the most vitamins out of your food, you must refrigerate fresh produce and keep milk and grains away from bright light. Vitamins are easily destroyed or washed out during the improper preparation and storage. If you are taking a B vitamin supplement you should store the bottle in a dry place at room temperature.

Our brains use Thiamine to help convert glucose or blood sugar into fuel. If we didn’t have this ability the brain can rapidly run out of energy. This can then lead to fatigue, depression, irritability, and/or anxiety. A deficiency can also lead to problems with our memory, a loss of our appetite, insomnia and gastrointestinal disorder. If we consume too much of refined carbohydrate, such as simple sugars this can lead to a drain of the body’s supply of B1.

Thiamine in our foods can be easily degraded. When sulfites are added to foods as a preservative they attack thiamine at a cellular level, thereby depleting the amount of B1 that is available in our food. It is recommended that everyone should buy fresh produce and foods so that the vitamins are at the greatest level available. Eating fast foods on a regular basis is one of the causes of the populations lowered intake of adequate amounts of vitamins. This is the reason that some of us must be taking extra vitamins in our daily intake of foods, to supplement those that we aren’t getting in our diet.

The Vitamin B complex vitamins are all necessary vitamins needed by our bodies daily. Whether we get them from our diet or take them as a supplement doesn’t matter, what matters is that we have adequate amounts in our daily intake. For more information on this vitamin or any other vitamin products visit my websites at http://sourceofvitaminb.com/vitamin-b1-thiamine-and-why-we-need-it/ and/or
http://lifewellness.org/category/vitamin-b-supplements/.