The Best Food Sources of Thiamin

It’s important to eat a variety of healthy, unprocessed foods to avoid a vitamin deficiency. Some vitamins need to be replaced frequently since they aren’t stored well by the body. Such is the case with the vitamin known as thiamin, also called vitamin B1. Thiamin stores can be depleted in as little as two weeks if more isn’t taken in through diet. What are the best food sources of thiamin?

What Are the Functions of Thiamin?

Thiamin plays an important role in energy metabolism in the body. It serves as a coenzyme in several key reactions involved in cellular energy production. It’s also plays a role in the synthesis of DNA and RNA, structures which carry instructions for the synthesis of proteins by cells. It’s also involved in nerve function – although its exact role hasn’t been determined yet.

Needless to say, thiamin is a critical vitamin for good health because of its involvement in energy metabolism. A deficiency of thiamin can lead to a condition known as beri beri which can cause severe muscle weakness, heart enlargement, fluid accumulation, and fatigue. This disease can be fatal unless a person receives good sources of thiamin to replenish the body’s stores. A thiamin deficiency can also cause peripheral nerve damage which leads to tingling in the legs and feet and muscle weakness. Thiamin deficiency symptoms can occur in as little as one week of taking in too little thiamin.

What are the Best Food Sources of Thiamin?

Thiamin is founding a variety of foods, although not in very high concentrations. The best food sources of thiamin are pork, beef, chicken, sunflower seed, bran flakes, and other whole grains. Processed grains have lower levels of thiamin than whole grain foods unless the foods are fortified with it. Vegetables have less thiamin than meats and whole grains. Thiamin is very fragile when exposed to heat, so cooking foods to high temperatures can destroy part of it. Some thiamin is also lost when foods are thawed. The recommended daily allowance of thiamin for adults is 1.4 milligrams.

What are the Causes of Thiamin Deficiency?

The most common cause of thiamin deficiency is alcoholism. Alcoholics don’t get enough thiamin in their diet, and they don’t absorb it or metabolize it as well. Alcoholics with a thiamin deficiency can develop a more severe form of disease called Wernicke’s encephalopathy which leads to changes in mental status, vomiting, and abnormal eye movements. This can progress to a form of dementia that may be permanent called Korsakoff syndrome.

People who have certain diseases of the digestive tract such as inflammatory bowel disease may not absorb thiamin well and develop a deficiency; and people who eat an improper diet or restrict calories excessively may also be at higher risk.
Food Sources of Thiamin: The Bottom Line

Thiamin plays an important role in the body, so it’s important to eat a diet rich in unprocessed foods, whole grains, and lean protein to get enough of this vitamin. It’s one you can’t live without.

First Published Jul 12, 2010 Kristie Leong

References:

The Nutritionist. Robert Wildman, PhD, RD. 2002. pages 204-209.

Merck Manual. 18th edition.

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