Vitamin B1 Deficiency and Excess

DEFINITIONS

Vitamin B1 (thiamine) is necessary in a number of reactions involving enzymes, including the release of energy from sugar.

Source of vitamin B1 are yeast, pork, peas and wheat crops. Vitamin B1 deficiency occurs when the food is not on the menu daily food.

CAUSE

Rice mills to remove the husks, will basically remove vitamins.
Asian people are at risk of vitamin B1 deficiency due to diet consists mainly of rice that has been ground. But the boil before removing the husk of rice, will move the vitamins to the entire grain of rice so that the presence of vitamins to stay awake.

Vitamin B1 deficiency can also result from decreased absorption due to chronic diarrhea or increased need for vitamin because hyperthyroidism, pregnancy or fever.

Heavy alcohol drinkers to use alcohol instead of food, thus reducing vitamn-vitamin intake, including vitamin B1. Therefore, heavy alcohol drinkers have a risk of suffering from lack of nutrients.

Beri-beri in infants because breast milk of mothers menyusi a vitamin B1 deficiency. It is characterized by heart failure, loss of voice, the nerve damage.Cardiac abnormalities usually resolve with vitamin B1.

SYMPTOMS

The initial symptoms of weakness, irritability, memory disturbances, loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, abdominal discomfort and weight loss.

May eventually develop a deficiency of vitamin B1 heavy (beri-beri), characterized by neurological disorders, brain and heart.

In all forms of beri-beri, red blood cell metabolism and altered levels of vitamin B1 in blood and urine will decrease sharply.

Neurological disorders (dry beri-beri) started as:
- Sensation of a stimulus (such as the needle pricked) on toes
- Hot burning sensation in the feet, especially worse at night
- Calf muscle spasms
- Pain in the legs and feet.

If the patient also experienced a lack of pantothenic acid, the above symptoms will get worse:
- Calf muscle pain
- Get up from squatting position becomes difficult
- Reduced ability to feel the vibration in the toes.

At the end of the calf muscles and thigh muscles will shrink (atrophy) and arising footdrop and toedrop (circumstances in which the feet or toes hanging limp and can not be removed). This happens because the nerves and muscles are not functioning properly.
Wristdrop can also occur.

Abnormalities of the brain (brain beriberi, Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome) often arise in the event of a deficiency of vitamin B1 heavy and sudden, which can be caused by excessive alcohol consumption or severe vomiting in pregnancy, and exacerbate a deficiency of vitamin B1 that is chronic.

Initial symptoms of mental disorders, laryngitis and double vision.
Next the patient will be made up of events and experiences to fill the void memory (konfabulasi)

If Wernicke's encephalopathy is not treated, the symptoms get worse, causing coma and even death.
This disease is a medical emergency and treated with intravenous vitamin B1 (through the blood vessels) as much as 100 times the recommended daily dose, for a few days.
Continued with the provision of vitamin B1 per-oral (swallowed) as much as 10 times the recommended daily dose until symptoms disappear.

Healing often occurs not as a whole because of brain damage is permanent.

Heart disease (beri-beri wet) characterized by:
- High cardiac output
- Rapid heartbeat
- Dilation of blood vessels that cause the skin becomes warm and humid.

Because of lack of vitamin B1, the heart can not maintain a high cardiac output and heart failure, which found:
- Widening of veins
- Shortness of breath
- Detention of fluid in the lungs and peripheral tissue.

The cure for the provision of vitamin B1 intravenously (through the blood vessels) as much as 20 times the recommended daily dose for 2-3 days, followed by vitamin by mouth (swallowed).

Infantile beri-beri occurs in infants who received breast milk from mothers who suffer from lack of vitamin B1, which mainly occurs at the age of 2-4 months.

Symptoms include:
- Heart failure
- Sound missing
- Damage to peripheral nerves.

Heart disease will usually complete recovery if treated with vitamin B1.