Vitamin B1 deficiency

Carola Felchner is a freelance writer in the medical department and a certified training and nutrition advisor. She worked for various specialist magazines and online portals before becoming a freelance journalist in 2015. Before starting her internship, she studied translation and interpreting in Kempten and Munich.

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A vitamin B1 deficiency can arise if you eat a low-vitamin diet, have an increased need (e.g. during pregnancy) or can only absorb the vitamin in the intestine to a reduced extent. High alcohol consumption, eating disorders, long-term nutrition via infusions and diseases of the kidney can also lead to vitamin B1 deficiency. Find out more about the effects of a vitamin B1 deficiency here.

Vitamin B1 Deficiency: Causes

Vitamin B1 (thiamine) is actually found in sufficient quantities in food. Vitamin B1 deficiency is therefore mainly observed in developing countries, where the need cannot be met due to malnutrition or malnutrition.

When people in industrialized countries develop a deficiency in thiamine, it is usually because too little of the vitamin is being absorbed through the intestines. Possible reasons for this are gastrointestinal or liver diseases, but also alcohol abuse and eating disorders. The need for vitamin B1 is increased during pregnancy. This sometimes also leads to a vitamin B1 deficiency, especially in the case of pregnancy sickness (hyperemesis gravidarum).

There are also foods that contain substances that hinder the absorption of vitamin B1 - if they are consumed in appropriate quantities. This includes, for example, tea, coffee, but also tea leaves or betel nuts, which are often chewed in some countries. Various freshwater fish and mussels also contain an enzyme that breaks down thiamine. But that's only a problem if these are consumed raw. The enzymes are destroyed during cooking.

Vitamin B1 Deficiency: Symptoms

Vitamin B1 is primarily necessary for the metabolism of carbohydrates and thus the production of energy. Therefore, a thiamine deficiency affects numerous areas, including the nervous system. :

sleep disorders
Weight loss
Loss of appetite
nausea
Cardiovascular failure
Muscle weakness and paralysis
muscle pain
Leg cramps or
mental changes such as anxiety, depression, irritability

If left untreated, vitamin B1 deficiency is fatal.

Vitamin B1 deficiency: special form of beriberi

Beriberi is a special form of thiamine deficiency disease. The disease develops when you eat exclusively machine-peeled and polished rice, as was previously the case with inmates of Asian prisons.

Nowadays, beriberi occurs mainly in developing countries. Characteristic symptoms are heart muscle weakness and depression as well as loss of skeletal muscles, especially in the legs, and water retention in the tissue (edema).

Doctors differentiate between different forms of beriberi:

Dry (paralytic or nervous) beriberi: neurologically accentuated form of vitamin B1 deficiency; mainly recognizable by muscle weakness, reflex and sensory disorders; in severe cases, seizures occur.
Wet (cardiac) beriberi: edematous form of vitamin B1 deficiency with enlargement of the heart, rapid heart rate, heart failure, breathing problems and the formation of edema.
Cerebral beriberi: leads to Wernicke encephalopathy (see below) and Korsakoff psychosis (especially with alcohol abuse, but also with malnutrition, stomach cancer and AIDS); here the vitamin deficiency primarily affects the nervous system.

Vitamin B1 deficiency: special form of Wernicke encephalopathy

The cause of Wernicke encephalopathy is an inadequate supply of vitamin B1 (thiamine) to the brain. There may also be hereditary factors that increase the risk of developing Wernicke encephalopathy with a vitamin B1 deficiency. However, this has not yet been conclusively clarified.

A permanent vitamin B1 deficiency damages the nerve cells in the brain, which ultimately causes them to die. As a result, the brain can no longer perform certain tasks as usual.

The development of Wernicke encephalopathy due to a vitamin B1 deficiency is usually related to alcohol abuse or eating disorders and the associated deficient thiamine intake.

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