July/August 2006
HEALTH BYTES

Vitamin B1 deficiency linked to heart disease

A recent study found that about one out of three patients hospitalized with heart failure are deficient in vitamin B1, also known as thiamin. In the study, when researchers measured blood levels of vitamin B1 in a group of patients with congestive heart failure, they found that 33 percent of them were deficient in vitamin B1, compared to 12 percent of those without heart failure. It is thought that heart disease may increase the body's need for certain nutrients, so that even people with healthy diets may still be deficient in vitamin B1. Researchers noted that a relatively small dose of thiamin from a supplement protected against thiamin deficiency.

Journal of the American College of Cardiology, January 2006