Whether you’re farming, sweating in the Oval Office or digesting Budget 3.0, being a South African means you need your brain to work at top speed. The steaks are (piled) high and the braai is hot. You better put on your tiger panties if you want to make it past the next minibus taxi / pothole / sinkhole / water outage / load reduction / flood / drought / scandal.
You need energy and you need brains. Lots of.
Vitamin B1 (Thiamin or Thiamine) is essential for energy production, brain function and a resilient nervous system. Yet, most people don’t get nearly enough from their diet. Why? Because Vitamin B1 is easily destroyed by cooking and food processing! Even if you’re eating well, you might still be running low.
Adding insult to injury, most brain-active drugs (like antidepressants, ADHD meds and such) use up the brain’s available Vitamin B1. If you’re on any such drug for some length of time, your brain gets into trouble.
But the woes get worserer. The recommended daily allowance of Vitamin B1 is set at just a little bit above 1 mg per day for adults. That’s about a pinprick in size. That sounds easy enough, right? 1 mg is smaller than the full stop at the end of this sentence. Surprisingly, it’s incredibly important for the entire body. Without Vitamin B1, your body / brain cannot burn glucose for fuel.
Where Do You Find Vitamin B1 In Food?
Now, we know what you’re thinking – “I eat a balanced diet, surely I should be fine, right?” Well, let’s take a look at the numbers…
To get your RDA of Vitamin B1, you can try eating:
- Pork, broiled (200 g)
- Oats, cooked (200 g)
- Pecan nuts, unsalted (200 g)
- Mussels, steamed (300 g)
- Salmon, raw (400 g)
- Black beans, canned (500 g)
- Brown rice, cooked (550 g)
- Sunflower seeds, raw (1,000 g)
Do you see the problem? You’d need to have a stomach like a horse or the purse of an oil sheik to afford to eat that much. Pork is the natural product with the highest Vitamin B1 content. How often do you eat pork?
But Wait, There’s Even Less…
Not only is it jolly hard to find Vitamin B1 in food sources, it is even harder to absorb it.
Vitamin B1 is very poorly absorbed in the gut, meaning you need to take lots more to make up for the bits that go to waste. Less than 10% of what you eat ends up inside your body.
And if you’re prone to drinking alcohol every day, you are depleting the Vitamin B1 stores in your brain faster than they can be replaced. Oops.
And then… Vitamin B1 is a water soluble vitamin. This means two things: (1) It is not stored in the body and (2) it is very difficult for Vitamin B1 to pass the blood-brain barrier to get where you need it most.
Where Did Our Distant Ancestors Get Their B1 From?
If it’s so difficult to get enough Vitamin B1 into your brain, and so easy to lose it, how did our ancient ancestors cope? Easy. They lived in a time before antiseptics and antibiotics. As such, they had Vitamin B1 producing bacteria / yeasts in their guts. Since the arrival of penicillin and other antibiotics, the human race has all but destroyed these beneficial bacteria and yeasts from the gut.
You can, however, try to replenish them by eating fermented foods on a daily basis, while avoiding antibiotics. Like a biological game of snakes and ladders, one antibiotic is all it takes for you to slide all the way back to the first block again.
Why Supplement With Vitamin B1?
- Boosts energy levels – Helps convert food into energy, keeping you active and alert all day long.
- Supports brain function – Improves concentration, memory, and mental clarity.
- Strengthens the nervous system – Essential for nerve health and stress management.
- Stabilises mood / reduces anger outbursts
- Aids digestion & metabolism – Supports the breakdown of carbs, fats, and proteins for better nutrient absorption.
- Promotes heart health – Plays a crucial role in maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system.
Gimme The Shortcut
That’s why supplementing with our Vitamin B1 tablets is the smart and easy way to ensure you’re getting enough of this crucial nutrient.
Signs Of Vitamin B1 Deficiency
While few people display extreme Vitamin B1 deficiency, many people walk around with low levels of Vitamin B1. This can manifest in a number of ways:
* Anger outbursts (especially noticeable in two or three year olds)
* Brain fog
* Lethargy / Chronic fatigue
* Memory loss
* Suicidal thoughts
* Depressed or anxious mood
How Much Vitamin B1 Do I Really Need?
Studies show that a daily supplemental dose between 100 and 1,000 mg has clinically noticeable effects on the brain. We recommend that you take 100 mg daily for general well-being. However, if you are suffering from a chronic brain condition, a higher dose may be indicated.
But Is It Safe?
You may wonder if taking a dose that is 100x higher than the RDA is actually safe to take. Since Vitamin B1 is water-soluble, an excess is easily excreted in the urine. Your body and brain will take what they need and the rest will end up in your urine. There is no danger of toxicity, since no excess remains behind in the body. Even when a daily dose of 1,000 mg Vitamin B1 was taken for a year, the study subjects suffered no side effects.
