Symptoms of thiamine deficiency long term are conspicuously similar to a certain disease that has a lot of people worrying.
There is a very little talked about disease caused by vitamin B1 aka thiamine deficiency which has existed for hundreds of years. It has a well established track record of causing a litany of health issues.
There are many nutritional deficiencies of nutrition in the Western world. Paradoxically, we have more calories and more access to food than many third world countries, but the quality of our food is so lackluster that we're not only overeating and becoming overweight but malnourished at the same time. Being overweight used to be a sign of affluence back in times when food was harder to come by. Now it is little more than a chronic malnourishment disease rooted in inflammation and largely lifestyle related.
Beri-Beri literally translate to "I can't". As in it causes a chronic-fatigue-like disease in humans over time. The symptoms are many, but some of the most common are shortness of breath, muscle aches and fatigue.
Most people know that B-Vitamins are involved with "energy" in the body but this can be a misleading concept. Many sugary energy drinks promote b-vitamins for energy, along with a conspicuous amount of caffeine. Caffeine causes your body to create more energy and burn more fat. B-Vitamins help the cells themselves.
So if you're low on b-vitamins a symptom will be low energy which can get worse over time if the deficiency isn't addressed. This low energy will be from an inability for hemoglobin in the blood to transfer oxygen to cells. This will cause an annoying shortness breath because your cells will literally be suffocated. Lack of oxygen into the cells messes with the powerhouse of the cell aka the mitochondria.
This is what "energy" means in the cell. Over time the shortness of breath will get worse as the deficiency is continued, as all deficiencies work gradually.
It is no secret that the American diet is largely garbage which is targeted to lower income areas. Processing of the food in general involves lots of heat and pressure, especially making the frankenfoods that make up so many people's diets (potato chips, white bread, bagels, other cheap carb-heavy and nutrient devoid fods). This destroys nutrients which can be very selective with their environment. So not only are the foods already unhealthy but they are deficient in essential water-soluble vitamins like B1.
Other cofactors contribute to the mitochondrial health (or disease) including magnesium and folate, two other common deficiencies, along with iron especially in vegans.
Unfortunately there is another major problem
When it comes to nutrition it is great to focus on real-life solutions that can be implemented to improve health, obviously.
However, our "health-care" (read: sickcare) industry is so far removed from natural health and nutrition that we're quite literally moving backwards in terms of overall vitality of the population. Why you ask? Because most medical people are ignorant about nutrition. They may be the most well-intentioned people out there, but if they don't know about nutrition they're not going to be able to help their patients with nutritional deficiencies.
And thus is the outrageously expensive medical system that usually fails to cure anything but instead becomes a lifetime habit leaving many patients frustrated. Of course, going to a doctor, getting on medications and then eating the same junk food isn't going to help the situation but it will make it drastically worse over time. Not to mention that pharmaceutical drugs essentially fail to do more than mask a single symptom, covering it up for awhile while it smolders underneath the surface; inevitably it will return with a vengeance.
For instance, one of the primary medical interventions currently for people suffering from shortness of breath is an immediate use of ventilators. These ventilators are not going to fix nutritional deficiencies how hard can this possibly be to understand. Deficiencies like most chronic illness does not go away on its own but with giving the proper nutrients and aid to the body so that it can then heal itself and return towards optimal health.
We also hear nothing about nutrition from "public health experts". Certainly we're not going to hear about vitamin B1 deficiency and the chronic rising of Beri-Beri symptoms. We can't even get a simple template for what to eat from these people…just constant pharmaceutical pandering it seems.
It gets worse before it gets better.
On top of this problem with the financial giants of the pharmaceutical cartels is another looming problem that I estimate will take hold in the next year. Not only are people not eating better and exercising, currently they are being bombarded with non-stop fear mongering from media, and many are financially being destroyed…all while inflation and food prices are rising.
Alcoholism is on the rise all over the planet. And chronic alcoholism can be a chief cause of thiamine deficiency. What can we possibly expect except worse health outcomes? Our behaviors for the most part are not improving…they're getting much much worse…this is a cause and effect relationship. On average people must become more ill by definition.
The solution is a sobering one (no pun intended). It appears that the best way, and it has always been this way, is to take as much control of your own health as you can…if its something you value.
If we're not going to get any sound health advice from government propaganda agencies and NGO's and their buddies at the FDA and CDC, we're going to have to find this information ourselves. Thankfully there is no shortage for those that take the time and patience to look. Again…if your health is something you value.
We need to find ways to continually make small health changes that improve over time. This can be by moving more, getting more sunlight and thus vitamin D, supplementing to stop deficiencies like thiamine and magnesium and more. Even just reading one book on nutrition could be enough to catapult even the most unhealthy person in the right direction. Seminars and videos exist online. Libraries exist…for now.
To sum up the article, its important to understand that disease is a spectrum. We have to collectively realize that you don't "get" a specific disease…it forms inside of you. If its got symptoms "x, y and z" then we have a different name than symptoms "a,b, and c". We basically just come up with different names for something on the spectrum. We're creating new diseases all the time and the only ones really benefitting are drug companies. If we take control of our health as much as possible we're going to find that not only can we feel better than we ever thought possible but we're going to reduce the burden on the sick-care industry…healthy people don't need to be in hospitals all the time.
Ben