Vitamin B1

[DATE OF FIRST PUBLICATION SEPTEMBER 2024]
By Craig Robinson

What's in a name?

Vitamin B1 is also called thiamine.
Benfotiamine is the fat soluble form of vitamin B1.

Summary of uses

• Helpful if you are struggling with a ketogenic diet - see sections 4 and 5 below, and also section 3.1 of Diet, Detox and Die-off Reactions Expect to get worse
• Good for diabetes - see sections 4 and 5 below
• Good for foggy brains - see sections 6 and 7 below
• Good for CFS/ME - this may be as a result of it being good for achieving ketosis (and the associated benefits of a ketogenic diet for CFS/ME) and also it being good for alleviating brain fog symptoms, or there may be more at play - see section 8 below.
• The dosage is 1gram daily in all of those 4 situations listed above.

As with all "Bolt On" interventions, one must have the Basics in place, namely:

• Pacing – see Getting enough rest - an essential part of managing CFS
• Sleep – see Sleep is vital for good health - especially in CFS
• Basic supplements – see Nutritional Supplements - what everybody should be taking all the time even if nothing is wrong This will most likely include the Mitochondrial supplements too – see - CFS The Central Cause: Mitochondrial Failure
• Diet – The Paleo Ketogenic Diet - this is a diet which we all should follow
• Avoid infections – see The Infection Game - life is an arms race
• Do a chemical clean up – see Do A Good Chemical Clean-Up: chemicals make you fat and fatigued

For a model showing the importance of the Basics, please see Chaos Theory and CFS/ME recovery paths

Dosage

As noted the dosage is 1 gram daily [1000mg daily].

I have included dosage information below regarding the various studies, and 1 gram is more than in any of those studies. Some PWME may like to start low and go slow. Ultimately though, Dr Myhill has found that a dosage of 1 gram daily works well in a clinical setting. Also, please note that:

The human body excretes excess thiamine in the urine. No toxicity from high thiamine intake from food or supplements is evident.

and

According to the Institute of Medicine, no established upper limit for thiamine intake that causes toxicity is reported in the literature.

Reference - NIH National Library of Medicine - Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)

Insulin Resistance...briefly...

Insulin resistance is a pathological condition in which cells in insulin-sensitive tissues in the body fail to respond normally to the hormone insulin or downregulate insulin receptors in response to excess levels of insulin circulating in the blood relative to the level of glucose.

High carbohydrate diets lead to chronically elevated insulin levels (hyperinsulinemia), which in turn lead to insulin resistance over time as receptors 'wear out' and cannot respond 'properly'. This is [yet another] reason why the Paleo-ketogenic diet is so important. See:

• The Paleo Ketogenic Diet - this is a diet which we all should follow
• My book - Paleo-Ketogenic: The Why and The How

Its use in a paleo-ketogenic diet and diabetes

[NB - see Grammar note below on the use of its and it's.]

Benfotiamine helps sugar burning in mitochondria and so reduces blood sugar levels and insulin resistance. This can help with 'getting into ketosis' for those who are struggling with this aspect of the CFS/ME protocol

Dr Myhill sells this form on her Sales Website - please see Benfotiamine 1000mg (360 capsules)

Medical Studies backing its use in ketogenic diets and diabetes

SUGAR BURNING IN MITOCHONDRIA

• Benfotiamine increases glucose oxidation and downregulates NADPH oxidase 4 expression in cultured human myotubes exposed to both normal and high glucose concentrations

In conclusion, benfotiamine increases mitochondrial glucose oxidation in myotubes and downregulates NOX4 expression.

Dosage was either 100 and 200 μM (micro Mole) daily, namely either around 50mg or 100mg daily (molecular weight of Benfotiamine is 466.448 g/mol)

BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS

• High-dose thiamine supplementation improves glucose tolerance in hyperglycemic individuals: a randomized, double-blind cross-over trial

Supplementation with high-dose thiamine may prevent deterioration in fasting glucose and insulin, and improve glucose tolerance in patients with hyperglycemia. High-dose thiamine supplementation may prevent or slow the progression of hyperglycemia toward diabetes mellitus in individuals with impaired glucose regulation.

Dosage was 3 x 100mg daily

INSULIN RESISTANCE

• Effects of benfotiamine on the insulin resistance state, some pro- and anti-inflammatory factors content in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiac autonomic neuropathy

In this study of diabetic patients, benfotiamine at a dose of 300mg daily, was shown to prevent β-cell dysfunction by inhibiting inflammation, thereby improving insulin resistance in tissues.

Dosage was 150mg daily

• Benfotiamine in the Management of Insulin Resistance in Type II Diabetes: A Personal Account

Everyone told me that me not taking my sugar meds was going to make me sick but 2 years this month I got my test results back and I'm 6.3 on the hemoglobin A1c scale. It looks like the benfotiamine had manipulated my insulin resistance.

Dosage was 500mg daily

Its use for brain fog and other cognitive issues

"Vitamin B1 plays a relevant role for good brain functioning, and chronic deficiency of this nutrient can generate a number of neurological and cognitive problems. This is because the lack of B1 in the body, for a prolonged period, leads to the death of neurons and other cells, compromising functions of different regions of the brain, including the hippocampus, the structure responsible for the constitution of new memories."

Reference - Brain structure harmed by vitamin B1 deficiency can be recovered

Medical Studies backing its use for brain fog and other cognitive issues

Many studies have shown such efficacy:

• Association between dietary vitamin B1 intake and cognitive function among older adults: a cross-sectional study

 Increased dietary intake of vitamin B1 was associated with better cognitive function in individuals aged over 60.

No dose as such - this study compared a variety of dietary B1 intakes with outcomes

• Benfotiamine and Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease: Results of a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Phase IIa Clinical Trial

Oral benfotiamine is safe and potentially efficacious in improving cognitive outcomes among persons with MCI (mild cognitive impairment) and mild AD.

Dosage was 300mg daily

"Health Rising" survey on Vitamin B1 and CFS/ME (2021)

Please see Health Rising Article - Nearly 2/3rds of Survey Respondents Report Large Benefits from High-Dose Thiamine

"Caveats aside, the results are striking.  More than three-quarters of respondents report that high-dose thiamine has helped them either “a great deal” (48.1 percent) or “somewhat” (29.6 percent)."

'High dose' here was taken as greater than 200mg daily.

This pie chart summarises the outcomes -

Postscript - B1 deficiency is common

Please see Hiding in Plain Sight: Modern Thiamine Deficiency which concludes that:

...measurable thiamine deficiency has been observed across multiple patient populations with incidence rates ranging from 20% to over 90% depending upon the study.

Grammar - its or it's

It's is a contraction and should be used where a sentence would normally read "it is" or "it has." The apostrophe indicates that part of a word has been removed. Its with no apostrophe, on the other hand, is the possessive word, like "his" and "her," for nouns without gender. For example, "The sun was so bright, its rays blinded me."

Reference - Merriam Webster - when to use it's and its

This is slightly confusing because in other cases "apostrophe s" does indicate the possessive, e.g., "Sarah's website" means "the website of Sarah" but such is the beauty of the English Language that exceptions to rules abound!

Related Articles

• My book - Paleo-Ketogenic: The Why and The How
• CFS/ME protocol
• Getting enough rest - an essential part of managing CFS
• Sleep is vital for good health - especially in CFS
• Nutritional Supplements - what everybody should be taking all the time even if nothing is wrong
• CFS The Central Cause: Mitochondrial Failure
• The Paleo Ketogenic Diet - this is a diet which we all should follow
• The Infection Game - life is an arms race
• Do A Good Chemical Clean-Up: chemicals make you fat and fatigued
• Chaos Theory and CFS/ME recovery paths
• Diet, Detox and Die-off Reactions Expect to get worse

External Links

• Benfotiamine 1000mg (360 capsules)
• Merriam Webster - when to use it's and its

References

• NIH National Library of Medicine - Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
• Benfotiamine increases glucose oxidation and downregulates NADPH oxidase 4 expression in cultured human myotubes exposed to both normal and high glucose concentrations
• Effects of benfotiamine on the insulin resistance state, some pro- and anti-inflammatory factors content in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiac autonomic neuropathy
• High-dose thiamine supplementation improves glucose tolerance in hyperglycemic individuals: a randomized, double-blind cross-over trial
• Association between dietary vitamin B1 intake and cognitive function among older adults: a cross-sectional study
• Benfotiamine and Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease: Results of a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Phase IIa Clinical Trial
• Health Rising Article - Nearly 2/3rds of Survey Respondents Report Large Benefits from High-Dose Thiamine
• Hiding in Plain Sight: Modern Thiamine Deficiency
• Benfotiamine in the Management of Insulin Resistance in Type II Diabetes: A Personal Account

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