Importance of vitamin B1 & Lack of vitamin B1
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
Vitamin B1 is a water-soluble vitamin and plays a very important role in energy metabolism, and helps protect our body's tissues against advanced oxidative stress.
It is from B complex family and also known as thiamine; it is not stored in our body, so we have to take it through proper diet.
It is found in wheat ,brown rice,vegetables,fruits,cereals,beef and beef liver,eggs ,nuts,yeast chicken,fortified grains etc.
Vitamin B1 is a very important vitamin for our body,co-factor for proper enzymatic functioning, it provides energy to the brain and increases the efficiency of the heart muscles .lack of vitamin B1 can lead to many complications in the body.
A severe chronic form of this vitamin B1 deficiency leads to beriberi, which there are to major types, wet beriberi, dry beriberi.
1. Wet beriberi, in this type of vitamin B1 deficiency complication cardiovascular system, is involved with cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure, palpitation, pulmonary oedema, breathlessness.
2. Dry beriberi, mainly nervous system is involved. Peripheral nerve involvement is typically asymmetric by both motor and sensory neuropathy and loss of reflexes.commonly in dry beriberi lags are more affected than the arms, also decreased sensation. Central nervous system involvement results in Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Wernicke-Korsakoff encephalopathy thy consists of nystagmus progressing to ophthalmoplegia, truncal ataxia and confusion.
Signs and symptoms of vitamin B1 deficiency
If anyone has a vitamin B1 deficiency, they should treat it immediately. The importance of vitamin B1 can be gauged by the fact that its deficiency in the body affects the entire system of our body, in the advanced stage, this vitamin B1 deficiency becomes more dangerous. The following are the common signs and symptoms of vitamin B1 deficiency,
- Confuse personality
- Irritability
- Memory loss
- Shortness of breathing
- Anorexia
- Oedema (especially swelling of legs)
- Fast heartbeat
- Body pain and muscle cramps
- Numbness of feet
Causes of vitamin B1 deficiency
Vitamin B1 deficiency is mainly seen in alcoholic people and people who take carbohydrate-rich food over along time, as we know carbohydrate-rich food like white bread and white rice, carbonated drinks are low in vitamin B1.
Nowadays, alcohol is the biggest reason for vitamin B1 deficiency, alcoholism prevents vitamin B1 uptake in the duodenum and leads to fatty liver .and, therefore, less vitamin B1storage in the liver. There are several causes of B1 deficiency, some causes are below,
- Alcoholism
- Metabolism
- Pregnancy and lactation
- Poor dietary intake
- Dialysis
- HIV
- GI surgery
- Excess carbohydrate
Laboratory investigations
Most vitamin B1 deficiency patient is diagnosed by a doctor after physical examination., but in some severe cases, the doctor usually measures the vitamin B1 level by measuring RBC transketolase activity and also urine B1 excretion. A transketolase activity coefficient > 15-20% suggests vitamin B1 deficiency. In addition, thyroid function tests may be performed.
Treatment of Vitamin B1 deficiency
If vitamin B1 deficiency is not severe, this deficiency can be compensated by eating foods containing vitamin B1, but where vitamin B1 deficiency is severe, they may be given vitamin B injections, tablets or syrup.
In emergency conditions like anorexia nervosa, GI surgery, AIDS, an infusion of vitamin B1 300mg to 500mg can be given slowly and the doctor also prescribes some medicines orally.
The daily requirement for adults:1.1 to 1.5 mg per day, Children,0.5-1.4 mg per day, this requirement increases slightly during pregnancy 1.4 mg per day.
You may be surprised to know that every year many people die of vitamin B1 deficiency without treatment. Most importantly, never take any vitamin without consulting a doctor.
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