Support your energy, focus and nervous system with vitamin B1. This essential B vitamin helps your body turn food into energy and contributes to the normal function of your nervous system. Here's how B1 works, where to find it, and when a supplement can help.
What does vitamin B1 do?
Vitamin B1, also known as thiamine, is essential for turning the carbohydrates in your food into energy your body can actually use. Think of it as part of the machinery that unlocks the fuel in your food – without it, your body can't release that energy properly. That's why thiamine contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism, one of its most important everyday roles.
This matters most for the parts of you with the highest energy demands. Your brain and nervous system are remarkably hungry for fuel, which is part of why thiamine contributes to the normal function of the nervous system and to normal psychological function. It also contributes to the normal function of the heart – another tissue that never stops working and never stops needing energy.
In other words, thiamine isn't doing one dramatic thing. It's quietly involved in the background processes that keep your energy, your nerves and your heart ticking over normally, day in and day out.
Why does your body need a steady supply?
Here's what makes thiamine a little different from some other nutrients. It's water-soluble, so your body doesn't stockpile it – anything you don't use is passed out rather than saved for later. On top of that, your body can't make thiamine on its own, and it has a notoriously short half-life, meaning it doesn't hang around for long.
Put those three facts together and you get a nutrient that depends closely on your daily intake. It's not something you can "top up" once and forget about; a little and often, through your everyday diet, is exactly how your body prefers to receive it. The good news is that this is easy to do, because thiamine turns up in a lot of common foods.
What foods are high in vitamin B1?
You can get your daily requirement from a variety of everyday foods. Vitamin B1 is found in pork, whole grains, fortified cereals, nuts, peas, beans, fish and fresh vegetables. Because it's present in both plant and animal foods, it's perfectly accessible on a vegan diet too – wholegrains, legumes and fortified cereals do a lot of the heavy lifting there.
The NHS recommends 1mg a day for men and 0.8mg a day for women. To put that in perspective, just one serving of fortified breakfast cereal provides around 1.2mg of thiamine – enough to meet the daily recommendation for most adults on its own. For most people, in other words, a normal varied diet does the job comfortably.
One thing worth knowing: some everyday drinks can reduce how much thiamine your body absorbs, including coffee, black tea and alcohol. It's not a reason to give up your morning coffee – but if these feature heavily in your day, it's a small factor worth being aware of when you think about your overall intake.
Should I take a vitamin B1 supplement?
If you eat a healthy, well-balanced diet, you're likely getting all the thiamine you need – and there's no particular benefit to taking more than your body can use, since the surplus is simply passed out.
That said, some circumstances can increase how much you need, or make it harder to keep your levels topped up. Regular alcohol consumption depletes thiamine, and a diet built heavily on refined carbohydrates and sugars can leave you shorter than you'd expect. Some medical conditions can also affect how well your body absorbs it.
If any of these sound like you, a supplement can be a straightforward way to keep your daily intake steady – and it's worth speaking with a healthcare professional, who can advise on what's right for your circumstances. A B1 supplement is also available as part of a vitamin B complex, if you'd rather cover the whole B family in one go.
Explore our range of vitamin B1 supplements to support normal energy release and nervous system function.