Know More About Thiamine Or Vitamin B1

By Author: Abinash Mallick
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hiamine or thiamin or vitamin B1, named as the "thio-vitamine" ("sulfur-containing vitamin") is a water-soluble vitamin of the B complex. First named aneurin for the detrimental neurological effects if not present in the diet, it was eventually assigned the generic descriptor name vitamin B1. Its phosphate derivatives are involved in many cellular processes. The best-characterized form is thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), a coenzyme in the catabolism of sugars and amino acids. Thiamine is used in the biosynthesis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). In yeast, TPP is also required in the first step of alcoholic fermentation.

All living organisms use thiamine, but it is synthesized only in bacteria, fungi, and plants. Animals must obtain it from their diet, and thus, for them, it is an essential nutrient. Insufficient intake in birds produces a characteristic polyneuritis. In mammals, deficiency results in Korsakoff's syndrome, optic neuropathy, and a disease called beriberi that affects the peripheral nervous system (polyneuritis) and/or the cardiovascular system. Thiamine deficiency ...
... has a potentially fatal outcome if it remains untreated.[1] In less severe cases, nonspecific signs include malaise, weight loss, irritability and confusion.[2] It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, a list of the most important medication needed in a basic health system.

Thiamine is a colorless organosulfur compound with a chemical formula C12H17N4OS. Its structure consists of aminopyrimidine and a thiazole ring linked by a methylene bridge. The thiazole is substituted with methyl and hydroxyethyl side chains. Thiamine is soluble in water, methanol, and glycerol and practically insoluble in less polar organic solvents. It is stable at acidic pH, but is unstable in alkaline solutions.[1][4] Thiamine, which is a N-heterocyclic carbene, can be used in place of cyanide as a catalyst for benzoin condensation.[5][6] Thiamine is unstable to heat, but stable during frozen storage. It is unstable when exposed to ultraviolet light[4] and gamma irradiation.[7][8] Thiamine reacts strongly in Maillard-type reactions.

Thiamine is found in a wide variety of foods at low concentrations. Yeast, yeast extract, and pork are the most highly concentrated sources of thiamine.[citation needed] In general, cereal grains are the most important dietary sources of thiamine, by virtue of their ubiquity. Of these, whole grains contain more thiamine than refined grains, as thiamine is found mostly in the outer layers of the grain and in the germ (which are removed during the refining process). For example, 100 g of whole-wheat flour contains 0.55 mg of thiamine, while 100 g of white flour contains only 0.06 mg of thiamine. In the US, processed flour must be enriched with thiamine mononitrate (along with niacin, ferrous iron, riboflavin, and folic acid) to replace that lost in processing. In Australia, thiamine, folic acid, and iodised salt are added for the same reason.[12] A whole foods diet is therefore recommended for deficiency.

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