What does it do?
B1(thiamin) is vital for allowing carbohydrates to be successfully metabolised for energy and fuel in the body, as well as playing an important part in making sure our hearts, muscles, nervous system and digestive tract all function as they should.
What’s the story?
Whole-wheat is a great source of thiamin, so much so that an over-dependence on refined grains or polished rice and a lack of protein can lead to ‘beriberi’ disease – notable not just for its frankly quite incredible name, but also for being the first vitamin deficiency disease identified.
When new milling equipment was introduced in 19th century Indonesia, it removed more of the wholegrain from rice - the local diet staple – and an outbreak of beriberi followed that was so severe the Dutch colonialists sent in the physician Christiaan Eijkman to crack the case. Eijkman initially assumed the cause would be caused by a germ or pathogen as was the prevailing theory of disease at the time, but during the course of his investigation launched the line of research that eventually identified Beriberi as a vitamin deficiency disease (a novel idea), and in the process won the first vitamin-related Nobel Prize.
Initially experimenting on chickens, Eijkman was puzzled by the sudden mass recovery of his test groups, until he discovered that the cook at the army hospital had switched their feed from leftover white rice to the brown, unpolished kind – providing the vital clue that diet was the culprit.
How much do I need?
Adult women age 19 and over (including 50+ year olds) need 0.8 mg per day.
Adult men age 19 to 50 years old need 1 mg per day, and men over 50 years old need slightly less at 0.9 mg per day.
Where can I find it?
As well as wholegrains like wholemeal bread or pasta, protein sources like meat and poultry, beans, soy, fish, and peas are all good ways of getting your daily dose of B1.
Any ideas for using those ingredients?
Hunter's chicken/Jewelled brown rice/Tamarind pork/scallops with pea and mint puree/tofu and aubergine stirfry/lentils, mushroom and hazelnut/Persian chicken/roast jerusalem artichokes/marmite nuts
References
British Nutrition Foundation (2021) Nutrition Requirements. Available here.
Price, C. (2016) The Vitamin Complex. London, Oneworld Publications, p. 266.
The University of Westminster (2017) Essentials of Nutrition. Available here [last accessed 15th June 2017].