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Back in the 1930s, thiamine, also known as vitamin B1, was one of the first compounds to be isolated and recognised as a vitamin, that’s to say a compound essential to health which the body cannot manufacture for itself, and which must therefore be obtained from the diet.

The functions of thiamine within the body are highly complex biochemically, but what’s important to know is that thiamine and its associated enzymes are essential for the body’s production of energy from food. As always with the B complex vitamins, however, the proper functioning of thiamine depends on an adequate supply of the other members of the complex, and the performance of the thiamine related enzymes in this case is particularly dependent on the associated vitamins, riboflavin (B2) and niacin (B3).

That said; there is a characteristic disease of severe thiamine deficiency, beriberi, which has been recognised for several thousand years. This disease should never now be seen outside medical text books in affluent Western societies, but alcoholics and heavy drinkers, for whom the absorption of adequate thiamine presents particular problems, frequently show symptoms.

Beriberi is regarded as having “wet” and “dry” forms, the symptoms of the former being principally observed in problems with the cardiovascular system, including severe fluid retention and in severe cases even congestive heart failure. So-called “dry” beriberi is characterised by problems with the nervous system, particularly the peripheral nerves of the limbs, which may lead to pain and weakness in the muscles.

Beriberi may also have serious effects on the brain, partly through increased free radical activity, leading in extreme cases to conditions known as Wernicke’s encephalopathy and/or Korsaloff’s amnesia or psychosis. Wernicke’s is identified by characteristic physical nervous “ticks”, especially unusual movements of the eyes, whereas Korsaloff’s is the term applied when these symptoms are accompanied by severe amnesia.

If you think these symptoms remind you of the archetypal “street wino” you’d be right, because in advanced societies they’re most commonly found in alcoholics and heavy drinkers, supporting the theory that malnutrition is a major contributor to their problems. It makes sense that this should be so. For not only do such people tend to have very inadequate diets, but their damaged livers also struggle to metabolise the few nutrients which they do take in. Alcohol, of course, is also known as a powerful diuretic, and when you consider that thiamine, in common with the other vitamins of the B complex, is highly water soluble, and easily excreted by the body, you have a potent recipe for nutritional disaster.

So how much thiamine do you need to avoid this disaster?

As always, the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for thiamine (most recently established in 1998) is set at the level designed to prevent deficiencies in normally healthy people. But of course, the prevention of deficiency is not at all the same as thing as ensuring optimum health, and the RDAs for thiamine are therefore set at the very low levels of 1.2 mg for men and 1.1 mg for women. As the slight differential suggests, higher intakes are required in proportion with higher bodyweight, and particularly muscular bodyweight. An increased intake of 1.4 mg is also suggested for pregnant women.

A number of common every day foods provide good sources of thiamine. A serving of fortified breakfast cereals, for example, may provide 0.5 – 2mg, a single cup of wheatgerm 4 or more mg. A 3 oz serving of pork will contain up to 0.75 mg, lentils, peas, brown or enriched white rice 0.2 mg, and a slice of wholemeal bread 0.1 mg. These figures would seem to suggest that most people should have little difficulty in achieving their RDA. But the problem is that thiamine is notoriously fragile, and almost any type of processing of these foods, including boiling or even toasting bread may dramatically reduce thiamine content.

So it’s perhaps not surprising that research suggests average intakes in Western societies may be as low as 2 mg a day for men and 1.2 mg for women. These figures are worryingly close to the RDAs which, as noted, are in any case set at a level only designed for the avoidance of outright deficiency. Being averages, it likely follows that there must be many people who routinely fall below them, and there are also factors to be considered which may dramatically increase the body’s demand for thiamine and therefore the risk of deficiency.

As well as the consumption of alcohol, these include intensive physical exercise, normal growth in adolescence, pregnancy and breast feeding, and feverish illnesses, particularly malaria. As with alcohol, heavy intakes of tea and coffee have been shown to have a severely depleting effect on the body’s levels of thiamine, and this is due to so-called “anti-thiamine factors”, in addition to the loss of the water soluble vitamin which may be attributed to the diuretic effects of these drinks. There is also evidence that older people may struggle to absorb sufficient quantities of this nutrient even when their diet appears adequate.

There is no recommended upper safe limit for the intake of thiamine, any excess being easily excreted by the body, and no known toxic effects. Supplementing with thiamine is therefore recommended for the vulnerable groups listed above, which in fact comprise a significant proportion of the supposedly well population, and may well be beneficial for all who seek optimal health and maximum energy levels. The close interdependency of the B vitamins, however, means that thiamine should be taken as part of a supplement containing the whole complex. The proper functioning of the vitamin also requires the presence of adequate minerals, particularly magnesium.

Steve Smith

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Taurine is one of those perhaps lesser known amino acids which are known to medicine as “non-essential”. But “non-essential” in this context simply means that it is not essential to ensure a daily intake from diet, because the compound can be manufactured by the body, albeit in fairly small quantities. It should not be taken as lessening the importance of taurine or the other non-essential amino acids in any way.

Much publicity has recently been given to taurine as a way of preventing hangovers and slowing or even reversing the liver damage caused by long term excess alcohol consumption. So taurine is commonly added with caffeine to the energy drinks increasingly sold as mixers to take with alcoholic drinks. Whilst it has to be said that the “jury’s still out” on some of the wilder claims made in this regard, there is evidence that taurine may be beneficial not just for the liver but for the heart, kidneys and other organs which may become subject to inflammation or the accumulation of fluid or fat.

Complementary medical practitioners are particularly enthusiastic in using taurine supplements as therapy for conditions including hypertension, macular degeneration of the eyes, congestive heart failure, fluid retention and asthma. Although these conditions may appear diverse, if there is a common factor it is probably an imbalance in body chemistry, particularly perhaps the relative concentrations of potassium, magnesium and sodium within the cells. And there is some good research evidence to suggest that taurine’s effect in restoring proper fluid balance may be very effective in reducing blood pressure and tackling congestive heart failure.

When taken in conjunction with magnesium, taurine may help maintain good heart rhythm, and it is also an anti-oxidant which helps protect against atherosclerosis and the formation of potentially dangerous blood clots.

As a fat soluble anti-oxidant, taurine is also invaluable in protecting the light sensitive cells of the retina, which contain a very high concentration of fats, from the free radical damage which can lead to loss of vision through macular degeneration. Taurine’s role as an anti-oxidant has also been highlighted as a possible protector of the lungs against free radical attack, with potentially particularly valuable implications for sufferers from asthma.

Finally, although it remains a matter of some controversy, taurine’s role in balancing cell chemistry is also believed by some nutritionists to protect against epileptic and other types of brain seizure. It is also found in very high concentrations in the white blood cells which are the key to a healthy immune system, and is believed to help stabilise blood sugar levels.

To manufacture sufficient taurine within the body a good supply of the essential amino acids is required, particularly methionine. By far the best sources of these are the so-called “first-class” protein foods, called first-class precisely because they contain all of the essential amino acids. Meat, poultry, fish and dairy products are all within this group, and for the purposes of taurine, shellfish are a particularly rich source.

A diet providing normal quantities of these food groups will usually be adequate to prevent taurine deficiency, but not necessarily to secure the maximum benefits for sufferers from the conditions mentioned above. Those following a vegetarian diet will also have to take particular care to combine foods correctly in order to obtain an adequate supply of the essential amino acids; methionine especially.

Fortunately, however, there appear to be no toxicity issues with taurine supplementation, except for sufferers from excess stomach acidity or ulcers. So some nutritional therapists commonly recommend therapeutic doses of up to 4,000 mg a day, particularly when treating the heart and cardiovascular conditions detailed above, with no reports of ill-effects. It’s worth noting, however, that some minor gastro-intestinal disturbances have been observed when even higher doses have been applied.

But as always, when considering any program of supplementation, it needs to be remembered that the body is a holistically functioning organism, and that no one nutrient can function 100% effectively in the absence of an adequate supply of all the others. Taking individual supplements of amino acids can create an imbalance, and is not therefore recommended except in the short term, and is in any case best accompanied by a comprehensive multi-vitamin and multi–mineral regime. In the case of taurine, however, it is also worth pointing out that its action seems to be particularly dependent on good supplies of vitamin B6 and the essential mineral, zinc.

Steve Smith

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Selenium is one of those micro-nutrients which although required by the body in only tiny quantities are nevertheless vitally important for the health and well-being of the human organism.

There’s now compelling evidence of selenium’s significance as an anti-oxidant, in fighting cancer and heart disease, and as a stimulant for the immune system.

Selenium’s importance as an anti-oxidant lies principally in its necessity for the production of the key anti-oxidant enzyme, glutathione, which forms one of the body’s first lines of defence against dangerous superoxide free radicals. The body particularly needs the fat-soluble glutathione to work with vitamin E to soak up and neutralise any free radicals attacking the delicate yet vital fatty structures of cells such as the membranes.

In this way selenium and vitamin E appear to work so closely together that a deficiency in one may be compensated for by the other, and selenium is also crucial as part of the enzyme thioredoxin reductase which is important in maintaining the anti-oxidant properties of vitamin C. Moreover, vitamin E cannot itself do its work in the absence of an adequate supply of active vitamin C; and vitamin C cannot remain active without the presence of glutathione.

Selenium therefore forms part of a complex web of interacting nutrients, each of which is essential to a successful anti-oxidant rich diet, and whilst the amounts of selenium required by the body may be tiny, the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) being set at just 55 micrograms per day, the effects of any deficiency can be nevertheless disastrous.

It has to be said that a microgram (mcg) is a very small quantity indeed – a mere one thousandth of a milligram, so it might seem highly unlikely that anyone in an affluent Western society could allow himself to be deficient. And indeed, a little attention to the daily diet should ensure that this is the case.

The richest food source of selenium, by far, is brazil nuts, and amazingly a single nut may provide as much as 100 mcg. A mere one ounce serving of nuts may yield more than 800 mcg, more than double the Food and Nutrition Board’s recommended upper safe limit of 400 mcg. But luckily both organ meats and seafoods such as shrimps, crabmeat, salmon or halibut may provide selenium in much more manageable amounts of up to 40 mcg in a 3 oz serving. Muscle meats are also a reasonably good source, although pork, the best of these, will only provide around 33 mcg per 3 oz.

Whole grains such as brown rice or wholemeal bread may provide 15-20 mcg per serving, but fruits and vegetables are not particularly useful sources because of the way in which modern intensive farming procedures continue to strip soils of their mineral content.

Nevertheless, most healthy individuals seem to have little difficulty in achieving the RDA. But mere freedom from deficiency disease is not at all the same thing as optimal health. So the question must be: is there likely to be any benefit in supplementing above the 100 mcg level, but below the 400 mcg upper limit?

The answer appears to be a resounding yes. In addition to ensuring the maximum possible supply of vital anti-oxidant enzymes, research strongly suggests that supplementation at the level of 200 mcg per day may act as a stimulant to the immune system and may also help in the fight against cancer, particularly that of the prostate.

Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1996, although insisting that further studies are needed, suggested that selenium supplements at a level of 200 mcg a day may have a striking effect in reducing certain common types of cancer, including those of the prostate by 63%, oesophagus by 67%, colorectal by 58% and lung by 46%.

Another study of 33,000 men over 5 years demonstrated a 2/3rds reduction in the risk of prostate cancer for men taking 200 mcg a day (Journal of National Cancer Institute 1998), whilst a further study of 9,000 Japanese/American men found a 50% reduction in the risk of developing prostate cancer for those in the highest quartile of selenium intake compared with those in the lowest quartile.

A useful working hypothesis may be that as cancer is principally a disease of degeneration, it is the acknowledged anti-oxidant effect of selenium that is responsible for its apparent effectiveness in this area.

As always, however, the medical establishment is cautious, and reluctant to confirm the potential benefits of nutrition as opposed to more invasive, conventional therapies. But the indications for selenium in relation to prostate cancer, in particular, are so promising that a number of large trials against placebo control are currently in progress.

Steve Smith

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Riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, is an important member of the water soluble B complex of vitamins and has of course been well known as an essential nutrient for many years, hence its popularity as a fortifying agent in commercially produced breakfast cereals and breads etc. But in the current craze for tracking down new anti-oxidant “superfoods” it’s easy to overlook the more familiar, but nonetheless vital, nutrients such as the B complex vitamins.

Riboflavin, for example, is essential for the body’s production of certain enzymes, known as flavocoenzymes, which are needed for the production of energy through the metabolism of the proteins, fats and carbohydrates consumed in the diet. Flavocoenzymes are important in the breaking down and the using or neutralising of chemicals, including drugs and toxins within the body, and it has also been noted that they are a precursor of the specialised proteins needed for the proper functioning of the brain cell mitochondria.

Impaired oxygen metabolism within these mitochondria has been identifed as a possible cause of migraine headaches, Although tested on only a small sample of patients, supplementation with high levels (400 mg) of riboflavin has been duly found to have significant effects in reducing the frequency of migraine attacks when continued over a three month period. Despite the limited scope of the research so far, orthodox medicine regards riboflavin as worthy of further investigation for use in conjunction with conventional drug therapies.

Riboflavin is also important as an anti-oxidant in enabling the proper functioning of glutathione, the crucial anti-oxidant enzyme. Glutathione is needed to neutralise the hydrogen peroxide which is released as a by-product of normal metabolic reactions within the body. Left unchecked hydrogen peroxide can interact with other free radicals to produce hydroxyl, the most damaging of all. Glutathione is particularly important in protecting the delicate fatty structures, eg the membranes, of every cell in the body.

Although anti-oxidants are required to protect every cell in the body, particular attention has been focussed on their role in the lens of the eye, where light induced oxidative damage has been found to be a risk factor for the development of cataracts, one of the most significant causes of vision loss in the elderly. Measuring by reference to glutathione activity, research has suggested that individuals in the highest quintile of riboflavin levels may have only around half the risk of developing cataracts as those in the lowest quintile.

In addition to facilitating the action of the fat soluble glutathione, riboflavin is also essential for the body’s manufacture of another enzyme, xanthine oxidase, which is needed for the formation of uric acid, one of the most powerful water soluble anti-oxidants.

In common with all the vitamins of the B complex, a deficiency in riboflavin is likely to be associated with, and to cause, a deficiency in each of the others. Deficiency in riboflavin, however, has also been particularly associated with problems in the absorption of iron, and consequent anaemia and lowered immune system function.

The US Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for riboflavin is set at the very low sounding levels of 1.3 mg per day for men, and 1.1 mg for women, In Europe the slightly higher figure of 1.6 mg is suggested. To put these in perspective, a cup of fortified cereal may provide between 0.6 and 2.3 mg; 8 oz milk perhaps 0.35 mg, and a single large egg 0.3 mg. Meat, fish, chicken and green vegetables also provide a certain amount.

So these food values would seem to suggest that the RDAs should be easily achievable by those eating a normally balanced diet – and indeed they should. The problem is that the RDAs are set at levels designed to ensure protection against outright deficiency disease, which is not at all the same as optimal health. There is also good evidence that few of us in any case, in fact succeed in eating such a diet, and this can be a particular problem for older adults. Some research suggests that as many as a quarter of over 65s fail to achieve their RDA of riboflavin though their normal daily diet, and of course that which they do take in tends to be less well absorbed than that consumed by younger people. The result is that as many as 10% of the over 65s show signs of severe deficiency, an alarming and unforgivable statistic in wealthy Western societies.

But such symptoms of deficiency may not be confined to the elderly. Younger adults who achieve only these minimal levels of riboflavin intake may also be at risk if subjecting their bodies to unusual stresses, amongst which must be included physical work, intensive athletic or sporting activity, and the use of alcohol, tobacco or other drugs.

There are no known toxicity issues with any quantity of the B complex vitamins conceivably likely to be consumed, and the Food and Nutrition Board has specified no upper safe limit. The vitamins are water soluble with any excess being easily excreted by the body.

So given the difficulties of absorption which become more pronounced as the body ages, and the increased requirements for these vitamins which seems to arise with the increasingly stressful lives we lead in the 21st century – not to mention the nutritional poverty of much of the heavily refined and processed foods we now routinely consume, there seems no reason not to supplement with riboflavin and the other vitamins of the B complex.

Steve Smith

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