Importance of Thiamine Rich Foods

It is important to familiarize yourself with thiamine rich foods so you can prevent vitamin B1 related deficiencies. Thiamine, also known as vitamin B1, is an essential and very beneficial vitamin for our health. It is required to metabolize sugars for energy, which our cells can use to perform a wide array of biological functions. Thiamine is a colourless crystalline solid substance which can easily dissolve in water. It is part of a group of B vitamins, all of which are soluble in water.

Because of its solubility in water, thiamine is difficult to store in human body. Whenever there is an excess of thiamine in our body, it is flushed out of the system via urine. It is therefore necessary to maintain a continuous supply of thiamine for our body daily. Foods rich in thiamine or vitamin supplements can help fulfil this requirement.

Prolonged deficiency of thiamine has been known to cause a number of different medical disorders, which can be prevented by consuming a diet that contains adequate amounts of thiamine. You can visit the thiamine benefits page or thiamine deficiency symptoms page to find out if you have thiamine deficiency.

List of Foods Rich in Thiamine

There are plenty of foods that are rich in thiamine and can be included in your diet. In this article, I am going to outline some of the important ones. Here’s a list of foods containing thiamine.

• Yeast
• Yeast extract
• Pork
• Dried milk
• Eggs
• Enriched flour
• Lean meats
• Legumes
• Nuts
• Peas
• Oatmeal
• Brown rice
• Sunflower seeds
• Potatoes
• Oranges
• Asparagus

Yeast and pork contain larger concentration of thiamine when compared to other sources of thiamine.

Although thiamine deficiencies are rare, people who consume alcohol on more than regular basis need to be aware. Thiamine can result in different medical disorders which can affect their nervous system (brain) and heart.

Enrichment of Foods with Thiamine

Thiamine deficiencies are very rare in United States, Canada and other developed countries. Some of the foods that individuals in these countries consume are highly enriched with thiamine. Also, thiamine is not required in large amounts for it to do its work inside our body. So the requirements are usually fulfilled if you consume a healthy diet.

The type of foods that are enriched with thiamine vary depending on the countries. Compared to white flour, whole grain flour has been found to contains relatively large amounts of thiamine. That is the reason why white flour is enriched with thiamine, in hope to prevent thiamine deficiencies. In United States, processed food is required to be enriched with thiamine mono-nitrate.

Different countries have different procedure and selection of enrichment supplements to be added to processed foods. For example, in Australia, folic acid and iodized salts are also added to processed white flours, along with thiamine mono-nitrate  Consuming thiamine rich foods can eliminate many health problems and lets you enjoy healthy life.

Before starting any supplementation, it is strongly advised that you consult your family physician. Consuming thiamine (vitamin B1) rich foods can sometime eliminate most of the symptoms related to deficiency and supplementation may not be needed.