Can Thiamine Help Reverse or Delay Alzheimer’s Dementia?
It has been observed that individuals who develop Wernicke’s Korsakoff syndrome have a deficiency of thiamine. The most common cause of this disorder is alcoholism. These individuals develop dementia, have memory loss, unsteady gait, and muscle weakness. When individuals with this disorder are treated with thiamine, the symptoms do dramatically reverse. Thus, there has been a recent trend to recommend thiamine to patients with Alzheimer’s dementia. Thiamine is one of the Group B vitamins and known as B1. It is found in both plants and animals. Thiamine is vital for many metabolic functions in the body that use energy. Thiamine deficiency is quite rare but individuals who drink excess alcohol can develop deficiency of this amino acid. Because lack of thiamine can cause dementia in Wernicke’s Korsakoff syndrome, it has been proposed that perhaps thiamine can also be used to reduce severity of Alzheimer’s disease. Almost every health food stores sells thiamine and this amino acid is widel
