Vitamin Relief

Vitamin B1

Because vitamin B has many forms and functions we will look at each of the B vitamins individually. We’ll start with B1…makes logical sense right?

What is Vitamin B1?

Vitamin B 1 is a water-soluble also known as Thiamin. A water-soluble vitamin means that any excess vitamin is disposed from the body by urine. This vitamin is available naturally through foods, can be added to food products such as cereal,  and is available as a dietary supplement.

What Does Vitamin B1 Do?

Vitamin B1 is responsible for many chemical reactions in the body. One of the most important roles the vitamin has is helping cells convert carbohydrates into energy. Carbohydrates are important for providing energy to the nervous system and brain. Because vitamin B1 helps create energy, it is crucial for growth and development of the body. Thiamin is also important for muscle contraction and conductivity of nerve cells. This is important for maintaining a normal heart beat rhythm. Thiamin is sometimes called the “Anti-Stress” vitamin because it helps the brain deal with stressful situations and helps straightening the immune system. And lastly, vitamin B1 is helpful in creating pyruvate. Pyruvate is a chemical responsible for producing lactate, which warns the body when oxygen. For example, you are lifting weights and pain develops in your arm muscles, this is lactate telling you that your muscles need a momentary rest before continuing exercise.

How Much Vitamin B1 Do You Need?

The National Institute of Health recommends these doses to maintain healthy Thiamin levels.

Food Sources that contain vitamin B1 are:

Enriched grains and whole wheats like bread, cereal, pasta, and rice. Theres also beef liver, black beans, trout, tuna, clams, mollusks, pork, eggs, squash, oranges, corn, yogurt, nuts and lagoons.

Overdoses and Deficiency

Because excess Thiamin is disposed through the body, it is rare for overdose effects to occur. However, because thiamin is linked to the contraction of heart muscles, too much vitamin B1 can cause irregular heartbeat, low-blood pressure, and other cardiac problems.

Vitamin B1 deficiency is much more common and dangerous. A lack of Thiamin can cause fatigue, confusion, mild psychosis, and nerve damage. Long term deficiency in early stages can cause confusion, short-term memory loss, weight loss, anorexia, and  muscle weakness.

In late stages, Wernicke-Korsakoff can develop. This is a two stage diseases. First stage known as Wernicke encephalopathy, or disease affecting the brain. Symptoms include mental confusion, ataxia, and ophthalmoplegia or paralysis of muscles in eye. Without treatment 20% of patients die from Wernicke and those who survive then develop Korsakoff psychosis. This type of psychosis includes severe short-term memory loss, loss of long term memory, hallucinations, and confabulation.

There are groups of people who are more prone to vitamin b1 deficiency and that includes those who have alcoholism, are elderly, have diabetes, AIDS/HIV positive, and people who have gone through bariatric surgery or surgery performed on stomach or intestines to promote weight loss.

Be sure to take your vitamins at recommended doses to live a healthy and safe life.

Signs of Vitamin B1 Deficiency Video

What is Vitamin A?

Vitamin A is actually a generic term for organic compounds related to each other and are known as retinoids. Vitamin A is also fat soluble, meaning the vitamin can be stores in the fat cells of the body. This makes it possible for your body to store too much of the vitamin.

There are two forms of vitamin A: preformed or retinol vitamin A which is found in animal meats, and provitamin A or carotenoid vitamin A which is found in fruits and vegetables. Preformed vitamin A is easier for your body to absorb because it is able to convert into retinol by itself while the body must use energy to convert provitamin A into retinol. Both forms will eventually become retinoic acid, the retinoid most used by the body.

What Does Vitamin A Do?

Vitamin A is important for maintaining healthy skin, immune function, reproduction, cellular communication and reproduction, bone, teeth, mucus membranes and other soft tissue. Vitamin A is known as a retinoid because it helps form pigments in the retina of the eye which help with low light vision. A sign of deficiency is being unable to see at night.

Though not proven, a diet with good vitamin a levels can help prevent measles in children and certain cancers like: breast, colon, cervical, esophagus cancer plus melanoma. There are also topical versions of vitamin A that can help prevent acne and moisturize skin.

How Much vitamin A Do You Need?

The National Institute For Health recommends these doses for healthy vitamin A levels:

Foods that contain high levels of vitamin A are: Cod Fish liver, eggs, fortified cereals and milk, orange and yellow fruits, broccoli, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and other dark leafy greens.

Consult your doctor and have your vitamin A levels checked to get a dose made specifically for your body.

Overdose and Deficiencies

Overdosing on vitamin A, or Hypervitaminosis A, is possible because of its fat soluble nature. Acute toxicity is when one ingests large amounts of vitamin at one time while chronic toxicity is the slow buildup of the substance over time. Acute symptoms are bone pain, skin changes, and vision changes, drowsiness, irritability, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and increased pressure in the brain.

Chronic symptoms include these along with possible liver disease, osteoporosis, calcification of tissues, kidney damage, and pressure change in the brain. Also confusion, respiratory infection, hair loss, jaundice, ulcers, changed vision, inflammation of bones, bone pain, poor appetite, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, sunlight sensitive, rough, dry, itching,or peeling skin, and cracked fingernails.

These conditions can worsen in children and infants including: softening of bone, double vision, bulging eyes, stunted growth, measles and coma.

Be sure to take your vitamins recommended for your body to live a healthy life.

Everything You Ever Need to Know About Vitamin A Video

What is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble organic molecule important for calcium absorption and strengthening of bones in the body. A fat-soluble vitamin means that an extra portions of the vitamin are stored in the body’s fat or liver for use when vitamin levels become low. Between 80% to 90% of the vitamin D is absorbed through the skin through sunlight and because few foods carry vitamin D, its the best way to get your daily dose to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The amount of vitamin D your body absorbs through the sun is determined by the amount of melanin in your skin. Melanin is what protects the body from the suns harmful UV rays. The more melanin you have, the less vitamin D is absorbed and the longer one would need to stay in the sun to get the recommended amount of the vitamin. Those with darker skin have more levels of melanin then those with fair skin.

What does Vitamin D Do?

First, vitamin D promotes calcium absorption in the intestines, calcium would be useless to the body if it cannot absorb it. Vitamin D also regulats levels of phosphorus and calcium in the bones. Because of this Vitamin D is just as important to maintaining strong bone health as calcium is.

How Much Vitamin D Do You Need?

The National Institute of Health recommends these doses for healthy vitamin D levels.

Note that these charts are based for those who have limited sun exposure and levels vary with skin type. Not enough scientific research as been done to determine specifically how much sunlight exposure is needed for those with darker skin. For fair skin doctors recommend 10 minutes and for darker skin between 20-30 minutes.

Dangers of Having Too Much or Too Little

In the world today, most people suffer from vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D deficiency can be linked to depression, bone pain, muscle weakness, headaches, and general fatigue. However, because many people suffer from vitamin D deficiency, their bodies become accustomed to the lack of the vitamin and may not experience any symptoms at all. Its important to go to the doctor and get your levels checked. Chronic vitamin D deficiency can cause rickets in children and breastfeeding babies and osteomalacia or osteoporosis in adults. Links to colon, breast and prostate cancers have been recently discovered by doctors along with type 1 and 2 diabetes, hypertension, glucose intolerance, and multiple sclerosis.

Too much vitamin D can be just as deadly as too little. Because vitamin D is stored in the body, it can easily build up to toxic levels. These levels can’t become toxic by too much sun exposure but by dietary supplements. Problems such as pancreas cancer, cardiovascular issues can occur. Increase in vitamin D will increase calcium levels causing calcification of tissue. Cases of anorexia due to weight loss has also been reported.

Be sure to consult your doctor to discover your recommended vitamin D levels in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Video Showing Vitamin D Deficiencies by Dr Josh Axe