Today, we’re discussing 12 strange signs that your body might need more Vitamin B1 (Thiamine). Remember, this video is for educational purposes only, so do speak with your doctor if you suspect a deficiency.
1. Nerve Pain in the Toes
One common sign of a Vitamin B1 deficiency is a tingling, burning, or shooting pain in the toes or feet. This happens because without enough Vitamin B1, the coating around your longest nerves gets damaged, causing pain signals to be sent to your brain. High blood sugars or pre-diabetes often cause this.
2. Frequent Yawning
If you often find yourself yawning throughout the day despite getting plenty of sleep, or you feel tired and fatigued for no reason, your cells may not be making enough energy due to a Vitamin B1 deficiency. Foods like sunflower seeds, mussels, pork, and garlic can help boost your energy output by providing more B1.
3. Anxiety and Stress
When you feel stressed out, tense, and can’t stop overthinking, your nervous system may be locked into a fear state, using up large amounts of Vitamin B1. This can lead to chronic anxiety, sleeping problems, panic attacks, nightmares, and eventually depression. Magnesium, along with more Vitamin B1, can help turn off the stress response and trigger relaxation.
4. Fast Heartbeat
Vitamin B1 helps create energy within your cells and plays a crucial role in regulating your heartbeat and respiration. Without enough B1, your heart may beat faster because it has to work harder to make energy for the body. This condition is often triggered by consuming too much caffeine from energy drinks, coffee, or soda.
5. Swelling and Poor Circulation
Your body uses B1 to protect the inside layer of your arteries from damage by free radicals. Without enough B1, your blood vessels become more susceptible to damage from blood sugar, causing swelling, fluid retention, and edema, especially in the feet and ankles. Drinking alcohol or eating too many refined carbohydrates commonly causes this.
6. Acid Reflux
Vitamin B1 helps the little muscle above your stomach relax and close properly after you eat. Without enough B1, this valve tends to stay open, allowing acid to flick upwards into your food pipe, causing burning pain, inflammation, and sometimes a lump sensation in the throat.
7. Completely White or Blue Nails
If your nail plates turn white or blue, it indicates insufficient oxygen in your blood. This can be serious, potentially caused by anemia, liver cirrhosis, or heart failure, but a Vitamin B1 deficiency may also be contributing to the discoloration of the protein in your nails.
8. Wide Walking Pattern
Severe Vitamin B1 deficiencies can cause loss of coordination and muscle weakness in your legs, leading to a wider walking pattern with shorter steps and slight dragging of the feet due to the breakdown of the nerve coating (myelin) and the beginning stages of nerve death.
9. Poor Navigation
The hippocampus and cerebellum parts of the brain need lots of Vitamin B1 to function correctly. Without enough B1, these brain parts can shrink, causing problems with navigation, finding directions, and locating yourself in time and space. This deficiency is also linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
10. Hyperactivity
Both children and adults may become hyperactive without enough Vitamin B1, leading to conditions like ADHD, OCD, Tourette’s syndrome, and general irritability. Vitamin B1 helps calm the brain and nervous system by regulating energy flow through neurons.
11. Over or Under Sweating
A Vitamin B1 deficiency can cause either excessive sweating or no sweating at all due to its involvement with the autonomic nervous system, which helps your body adapt to different temperatures.
12. Restless Legs
If you feel an overwhelming urge to move your legs at night, have an irritating crawling sensation, or can’t sit still due to deep irritation, you likely have low levels of Vitamin B1. Drinking alcohol, certain medications, or consuming sugar may be lowering your B1 stores and causing this.
Final Symptom: Diabetes
People with diabetes are most definitely deficient in Vitamin B1, as their bodies deplete B1 to handle high blood sugar. Diabetics should take a high-quality natural B1 supplement regularly, such as allithiamine or benfotiamine, along with a natural B complex from nutritional yeast to reduce the risk of nerve damage and tissue death from high blood sugar levels.
Testing for Vitamin B1
Less than 1% of the Vitamin B1 in your body is stored in your blood, making it hard to determine deficiency from a blood test. It’s essential to take note of the signs and symptoms your body presents and learn what might be causing the deficiency to address it properly.
Why Am I Low in Vitamin B1?
Several factors can deplete Vitamin B1, including alcoholic drinks, excessive carbs or sugary foods, caffeine, long-term stress, foods high in sulfites, and certain drugs like antacids, antibiotics, birth control, and diabetes medications.
How to Boost Vitamin B1 Levels
- Nutritional Yeast: Eat at least three tablespoons of unfortified nutritional yeast daily.
- Foods Rich in B1: Include sunflower seeds, organic pork, wild salmon, garlic, asparagus, squash, and mussels in your diet.
- Supplements: Take allithiamine or benfotiamine for better absorption and penetration into nerve tissue.
- Diet Changes: Cut out alcoholic drinks, refined sugary foods, and switch from white rice to healthier alternatives like cauliflower rice or wild rice.
- Gut Health: Boost friendly gut bacteria by consuming foods rich in lactobacillus and saccharomyces, such as sauerkraut, kefir, kimchi, miso, tempeh, pickles, and fiber-rich vegetables, seeds, nuts, and berries.
Supplements to Avoid
Avoid taking thiamine mononitrate or thiamine hydrochloride long-term due to potential toxins used in their manufacturing. Stick with nutritional yeast, allithiamine, or benfotiamine for the best effects.
