Vitamin B1 | enutrition.me

Vitamin B1 | Thiamin

Thiamin | The nutritional sources of thiamin | Vitamin B1

What is vitamin B1?

Vitamin B1 is also known as thiamin.

Vitamin B1 helps turn the food we eat into the energy we need. In addition, vitamin B1 is an essential nutrient for our body cells' growth, development, and function.

Thiamin is one of the B vitamins and is a water-soluble vitamin. Vitamin B1 is an essential micro-nutrient. Thiamin is naturally present in some foods, added to some food products, and available as a dietary supplement.

Why do we need thiamin, and what does thiamin do in our bodies?

Thiamin is essential for producing energy from carbohydrates in all human body cells.

Thiamin plays a critical role in cells' growth, development, and function.

Thiamin helps regulate energy metabolism and energy level.

Thiamin may contribute to maintaining mental function.

Thiamin (vitamin B1) | The nutritional food sources of thiamin:

Thiamin is contained naturally in many foods and is added to some fortified foods. Food sources of thiamin include whole grains, pork, and fish.

You can get thiamin by eating a variety of foods, including the following:

Whole grains and fortified bread, cereal, pasta, and rice.
Meat (especially pork), fish (such as trout and tuna), and seafood are good or high sources of thiamin. Beef contains thiamin.
Legumes, beans, nuts and seeds. For example, boiled black beans are an excellent nutritional source of thiamin.

Top nutritional food sources of thiamin:

Lean pork
Trout fish meat
Cooked trout
Black beans
Tuna, bluefin, cooked
Mussels, cooked
Brown rice
Whole wheat macaroni
Whole wheat bread

The following vitamin B1, thiamin-enriched foods are also among the top foods containing thiamin:

Breakfast cereals fortified with 100% daily value for thiamin
Rice enriched with thiamin
Baked goods made from thiamin-enriched flour

Enriched:

What is "enriched"?

Here, we would like to explain the term “enriched.”
Enriching means adding the original nutrients back into processed foods.
For example, thiamin was lost during the various grains processing and added to the manufactured grain products.
Therefore, they are called thiamin-enriched flour and other grain products.

Anti-thiamin factors in foods

Some substances and conditions can destroy thiamin, called anti-thiamin factors. For example, the thiamin in foods may be destroyed during cooking or storage because thiamin is sensitive to heat, oxygen, and low-acid conditions.

Tea, coffee, blueberries, and red cabbage also contain anti-thiamin factors. These factors are not destroyed by cooking with heat, making less thiamin available to the body. Therefore, chronic high consumption of foods containing anti-thiamin elements may increase the necessity of raised thiamin foods intake to counteract the effects of the anti-thiamin factors.

Thiamin and mental health:

Thiamin is an essential B vitamin regulating our energy level daily and maintains both our health and mental health. Because thiamine is involved in several essential cell functions and the breakdown of nutrients for energy, thiamine is critical to the energy supply for our heart and brain, as the heart and the brain need a constant energy supply.

Thiamin is essential in maintaining our mental health. Some studies showed that thiamin may help develop the myelin sheath, and thiamin is required both by the nerve cells and other supporting cells in the nervous system. Myelin is a white fatty substance that forms a medullary sheath around the axis cylinder of nerve fibers. In addition, thiamin also plays a role in propagating nerve impulses. Therefore, thiamin may contribute to maintaining mental function.

Reference:

https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh27-2/134-142.htm

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2013350/?page=1

The recommended amounts of thiamin:

The amount of thiamin your body requires depends on age, sex, and life stage.

The (recommended dietary allowance) RDA of thiamin is 1.2 milligrams daily for males aged fourteen and older.

For females aged fourteen through eighteen, the RDA is 1.0 milligrams daily; for females nineteen and older, the RDA is 1.1 milligrams daily. For females (14-50 years old) during pregnancy and breastfeeding, the RDA of thiamin is 1.4 milligrams daily.

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is the average daily intake sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (97%-98%) healthy individuals.

Because refined grains are typically enriched with thiamin, a thiamin deficiency is rare in the United States and Canada. However, there is one exception. Chronic alcoholics may experience a shortage of thiamin as their bodies may not efficiently convert thiamin to its bioactive form.

Recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) for vitamin D

Thiamin and Healthful Diets

Our nutritional needs should be met primarily through foods because foods provide various nutrients and other healthy components. Foods contain vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and other nutrients that are beneficial for our health. In some situations and cases, fortified foods and dietary supplements are helpful when it is impossible to meet the needs for one or more nutrients.

A healthy dietary pattern was described by “The Dietary Guidelines for Americans” as one that:

Includes a variety of vegetables; fruits; grains, and whole grains; milk, yogurt, cheese; and oils. Thiamin is widely distributed in foods. Whole-grain and enriched grain products and fortified cereals provide much of our thiamin. Many whole grains are good sources of thiamin; milk and yogurt contain thiamin.
Includes various protein foods, such as lean meats; poultry; eggs; seafood; beans, peas, lentils; nuts and seeds; and soy products. Meat (especially pork), fish (such as trout and tuna), and seafood are good or high sources of thiamin. Beef contains thiamin. Legumes, beans, nuts, and seeds. For example, boiled black beans are an excellent nutritional source of thiamin.
Limits foods and beverages higher in sodium, added sugar, and saturated fat.
Limits alcoholic beverages.
Stays within your daily calorie needs.