Take back your energy, freedom & life (Ultimate Guide on B1 High Dosing)

I love trying out new stuff, new supplements, new routines.

At the end, this is all part of the process of achieving health.

Trying out, seeing what works, analyzing what fails and go from there.

But if there is one supplement which stuck out to me, than it was:

Vitamin B1 or Thiamine

I long suffered from fatigue, low focus, low energy & needed 30 minutes to get going in the morning.

I have stumbled upon a video about “this one molecule changed his life” and was hooked of course.

Hearing about this (at this time new) molecule felt cool, but I quickly forgot about it.

Some time passed before I caught up on that train and tried B1 myself. And not the normal route, I tried mega dosing, meaning to provide higher than “normal” levels of said substance.

The results are unmatched, as within 2-3 weeks I regained:

• focus

• mood

• energy

• concentration

And afterall, didn’t need exogenous substances like caffeine to get going. I started the day within minutes.

So in this one, I wanna share WHY I believe thiamine is my favorite supplement (ok, apart from Magnesium, but thats basic) and how to safely go about high dosing thiamine

Why is thiamine so special?

Thiamine, or Vitamin B1 has a special role in our metabolism. Although it is not vastly used, the processes it supports are majorly important in our society.

While explaining to you where Thiamine is used, you will quickly grasp two things:

1. Why we need Thiamine in the first place

2. Why we need huge amounts of it

So let’s start with the most important role:

It’s role in dehydrogenase enzymes, aka enzymes cleaving of hydrogens off of molecules.

Thiamine is a co-factor for three VASTLY important dehydrogenase enzymes:

• Pyruvate Dehydrogenase

• Alpha Ketoglutarate Dehydrogenase

• Glutamat Dehydrogenase

Let’s cover these step by step:

Pyruvate Dehydrogenase

This enzyme catalyzes the reaction of Pyruvate into Acetyl CoA, which (if everything goes smooth) is incorporated into the TCA cycle, where most electrons are harvested from food, to be fed the ETC.

Whenever we eat carbohydrates, these are run through glycolysis, where the goal is to convert them into Pyruvate, where they then are turned into Acetyl CoA for usage in TCA cycle.

The problem in todays world is, that we

a) eat to much carbs which do not have micronutrient value

b) have insufficient thiamine running through our system

The Japanese are the “founders” of Beriberi. This is a severe deficiency of Thiamine, because of their huge consumption of white rice, which lacks the B1 needed to metabolize the carbohydrates.

Essentially, this is what all people with diabetes run through, so at least 50% of society.

And B1 plays a huge role in this, as without it, we not only convert this sugar into no energy, but we also turn on the switch for lactate metabolism:

Without enough B1, the Pyruvate simply is turned into lactate for energy. This switch of energy production is also seen in cancer patients, known as the Warburg Effect.

You essentially run into lactate acidosis, fucking up your whole energy metabolism.

Not only is the PDH a key enzyme in energy production, but also Alpha Ketoglutarate Dehydrogenase.

Just as to PDH, Thiamine is an important co-factor for AKDH, which is one of the biggest enzyme complexes in our body (it is built analogous to PDH, with the same co-factors).

Without it, the TCA cycle comes to a halt, we therefore produce less energy, which is essentially the pathway to disease. We often see impaired functioning of this enzyme in energy or oxidative stress overload.

Checking this via an organic acids tests might be insightful.

Last but not least, there is this enzyme called Glutamate Dehydrogenase.

As the name suggests, it is an enzyme regulating Glutamate homeostasis.

Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter, which, if not under control, leads to a dysbalance of excitation & relaxation.

High glutamate might be one culprit in the rise of neurodegenerative disease we have to face.

The job of the glutamat dehydrogenase enzyme is simple: degradation of glutamat, which leads to an increase in the calming neurotransmitter GABA.

This shifts the balance towards GABA, leading to less neuroexcitation and a more relaxed state, which is associated with healing.

Pentose-Phosphate-Pathway

The PPP is a relatively unknown pathway in our body, with important functions:

Production of NADPH & Ribose-5-Phosphat

The latter of the two is heavily involved in the formation of DNA, RNA & co-enzymes. It provides the building blocks of life, so to speak.

NADPH has various important functions, as it acts as an electron donor for various reactions, hence regulating the redox status of our body.

Dysregulation of this status = Disease, Pain & Death

NADPH has 100s of roles, in redox environment, methylation, detoxification, immune protection, antioxidant system regeneration and so on.

It is vastly important.

But what does Thiamine has to do with this?

The PPP is connected to glycolysis, as many substrates of glycolysis also occur in PPP (and vice versa). These substances have the ability to either participate in PPP OR glycolsis.

PPP can be separated into an irreversible part & reversible part.

Without going to deep, the reversible part is what is interesting:

Here is where glycerinaldehyd-3-phosphate and fructose-6-phosphat can be be used for both reactions, dependend on the situation.

Thiamine steps into the spotlight, as it is a co-factor in the enzyme transketolase, an enzyme catalyzing the reversible reactions seen below:

The importance of these reactions is, through modulating what substrate is catalzyed at what times, transketolase is key in regulating wether glycolysis is now getting substrate, or PPP.

Low levels of thiamine create a situation where neither glycolysis, nor PPP can run sufficiently, creating the said problems of above.

So for now, we got a lot of things covered. Now I wanna emphasize a vastly underappreciated benefit Thiamine has:

It is THE master micronutrient increasing your CO2.

Let’s see how

CO2 & Thiamine: A gift sent from god

Carbondioxide is a youth molecule.

It is a scanvenger of free radicals, improves oxygen uptake, prevents Fenton reactions (aka ROS because of iron), lowers acidity and has a huge impact in bone stability!

I will devote an extra newsletter to this topic. You might find it here then.

There are great studies showing that people living in higher altitudes, where the ratio of CO2:Oxygen shifts towards CO2, live longer.

Above image shows you a representation of altitude in the US.

Below you can find a map showing you mortality rates.

Yes there are multiple factors involved in this like UV-rays or deuterium content. Nevertheless, it shows that higher altitude residency leads to less deaths.

Higher altititude = more CO2

Many of you might know that you can increase CO2 by simply breathing less. This is often times called “Buteyko breathing”, named after the Russian scientist inventing this method.

It was succesfully used to treat asthma in many people.

Thiamine on the other hand, might even play a bigger role in the internal CO2 production of the body:

Everyone knows this formula. Afterall, this is how we gain ATP, the currency of life. As you can see CO2 is a product as a result of energy metabolism.

If we dig deeper, we will see that all of the CO2 won by utilizing energy is won in the steps before ATP is synthesized:

TCA Cycle & Glycolysis

Now, if we even zoom in a bit, we can see that ALL reactions creating CO2 need Thiamine to work, as the enzymes involved in it need it as a co-factor.

1. Pyruvatedehydrogenase (Glycolysis)

2. Alpha Ketoglutarate Dehydrogenase (TCA Cycle)

3. Branched-chain alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase (shuttling into TCA Cycle)

4. 2-Hydroxyacyl-CoA Lyase (Fatty Acid Metabolism)

These are all enzymes shown to produce CO2 as a byproduct of their catalyzation.

Even in the PPP, transketolase may produce CO2 under certain conditions. If the enzyme catalyzes a reaction involving b-hydroxypyruvate, there is production of CO2.

So as you can see, a lot of CO2 is produced just as a byproduct of Thiamine-dependent reactions.

The magic gut healer?

Gut health is especially important. Literally any disease can stem from the gut or at least, the gut had a major role in progression and onset.

• Constipation

• SIBO

• Bloating

• IBS

• Reflux

• Brain Fog

• Low Focus

All of these are normal in our society. Not treating them will lead to an early death.

But let me tell you, that B1 is probably one of the key nutrients involved in digestion & fixing these issues.

It does so by being HUGELY important in production of Acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter involved in many areas throughout our body.

Acetylcholine, as the name suggest, is built from an Acetyl group, attached to choline.

Choline is mainly derived from the diet, if you eat eggs daily you got sufficient amounts of it.

But where does this Acetyl group come from?

Remember glycolysis and the production of Acetyl-CoA by PDH? Yeah, you guessed it. Huge amounts of Acetyl groups are won there.

So through increasing production of Acetyl-CoA, we got more substrate to synthesize Acetylcholine.

Also, the enzyme responsible for putting the two molecules together (choline-acetyl-transferase) is activated by B1.

The impact this has is huge, as Acetylcholine is important for the production of stomach HCL & the migrating motor complex.

The MMC is the mechanism by which we digest food and it is only activated when we ingested food and fasted after that. Without enough Acetylcholine, this process comes to a halt, leading to constipation which leads to gut dysbiosis.

So now you can see where the magic of this compound stems from, how do we approach high dosage?

Let’s get through every step:

Which form should I take?

Conventionally there are three main forms sold or spoken about:

• Thiamine salts

• Benfotiamine

• TTFD

Thiamine salts are the most readily available, most likely being in the conventional B1 supplements you can buy.

Forms of these may be Thiamine HCL or Mononitrate.

These forms are generally cheaper, but absorption is low, so we have to account in dosing for this.

Benfothiamine is another, lesser known form. It is a synthetic derivate of thiamine with better absorption than the salts mentioned above.

It is a little bit pricier, but overall, my favorite form in the general context of thiamine.

TTFD is a compound studied in Japan, the “origin” country of beriberi. This one is probaly the superstar under the thiamine compounds, which is best absorbed by enterocytes and can cross blood-brain-barrier.

It is pricy, but generally needs the lowest dose of thiamin. For neurodegenerative disease or very stubborn gut problems, which do not improve under Benfotiamine, TTFD should be your choice!

Mind your Co-factors

When high dosing thiamine, it is extremly important to manage overall micronutrient content. In particular I am looking at the role of other B-Vitamins and Magnesium.

B-Vitamins are simple, as all B-Vitamins work in tandem to aid in metabolism. If we suddenly mega dose thiamin, without account for other B-Vitamins, we will quickly run into issues (see below).

So ensuring to eat a micronutrient dense diet, focussed on:

• ruminant & wild meat

• fish

• organs (must eat!)

• dairy

• green vegetables

These are good guidelines to hit every B-Vitamin you need.

Now, Magnesium is probably the best friend of B1. Why?

Magnesium is NEEDED for the conversion of thiamine into its active form TPP.

TPP or thiamine pyrophosphate is what is used inside the cell. And the enzyme TPP synthetase is Magnesium dependent.

So, ensuring higher-ish intake of Magnesium whenever you take B1 is important.

Magnesiumchloride and Bisglycinate are my favorite forms. I am mega-dosing MgCl, north of 6gr daily. Y

ou will quickly notice the good effects of these two working in tandem, as Magnesium is also involved in many key reactions, where B1 is somewhere involved.

For example, Magnesium is also needed in many enzymes of glycolysis, where B1 is aiding the PDH to convert Pyruvate into Acetyl-CoA.

With these two compounds, we can restore proper glycolysis and shuttling into TCA.

There are many more compounds, but others have to catch your attention. Ensuring higher than normal intake during times of high dosage might be a good option:

• CoQ10 (heart, supplement)

• Glutathione (Glycine)

• Molybdenum (high in legumes, but not everyone can eat those)

• Copper (liver, whole foods Vitamin C)

Thiamine & Paradoxical Reactions

When starting high dosage of thiamin, there can be a shortterm decline of well being.

Symptoms of:

• fatigue

• restlessness

• anxiety

• thirst

• headaches

• brainfog

• muscle pain

All of these might occur, and the more severe your current state of health is, the more likely it is to experience these symptoms.

Dr. Derrick Lonsdale, one of the pioneers in the field of B1 states that this is due to a shift of metabolism, away from catabolism, enforcing anabolism.

Elliot Overton, another expert in the field of B1, says that these reactions might be the cause of missing nutrients. If we zoom out, we can see that these two might be one and the same thing.

Missing nutrients needed for a shift to anabolism. We need something to build, to build.

Starting high dosage

So tying into the topic of “strange” symptoms, before starting I highly advise you to do these two things:

1. check, wether you got the right form of thiamine for your situation

2. increase micronutrients 1-2 weeks prior (might just be a whole lifestyle change)

I recommend supplementing with Magnesium, Collagen & Glycine, as these are powerful anti-inflammatory and pro-metabolic compounds missing in our body.

These all decrease the likelihood of you, experiencing symptoms.

When I started out, I had 2 weeks of high dosage Mg already done, the other things where in check.

I had ZERO negative reactions.

If you got this in check, here is how I’d approach dosing:

Depending on the dose, I’d recommend these ranges:

Thiamine salts: 500mg-4000mg

Benfothiamine: 300-1800mg

TTFD: 100-1500mg

Depending on how severe your problems are, the kind of problems & your age, you have to adjust.

For example, someone with diagnosed T2D & nerve damaging already, might even go a little above the 1500mg of TTFD.

A young athlete, generally healthy, micronutrients loaded, might just go to 1000mg of benfo, as he needs the B1 for performance reasons.

So the levers of intake are:

• age

• disease state

• carbohydrate intake

• performance & exercise demands

• gut absorption (Leaky Gut = lower availability)

Now, the most important thing in high dosage is:

NOT OVERDOING IT

I repeat:

DO NOT OVERDO IT

Ramp up, slowly, but surely.

When I am doing this with clients I check the levers mentioned above and depending on the state of the person, go slower or faster.

An exmaple of mine:

I ramped up to 1800mg of benfotiamin, over 1 week, increasing the dosage by 300mg each day.

I didn’t have any symptoms or any problems.

Below is a general structure I’d follow, if you are a person, in need for thiamine. It might be generally applied to many situations.

Splitting the dosage into at least 3, sometimes 4 dosages is a good way. Always before or with a meal.

Troubleshooting Symptoms

As you might know now, you might experience weird symptoms. If you have any decrease of wellbeing, you shouldn’t increase dosage.

Increase micronutrient intake over the next days. Start increasing dosage 1-2 days after the symptoms vanished. Go slower than before.

If you increased dosage 300mg per day, go 150 per day, or increase every second day.

It is not important how you do it, just that you

• do not increase dosage

• wait until symptoms resolved

• ensure adequate micronutrients (especially) around those days

• increase dosage slowly & in a controlled manner

How long is high dosing & what to do next?

Again, duration of high dosage depends. There are reasons to do it just for some weeks, but also reasons to do it for months.

It depends.

Generally, if you experience and improvement after some weeks, but then suddenly hit a crash again, allthough you didn’t increase dosage, thats a sign you might be loaded.

Lower thiamine to a maintenance dosage and stay there, adjusting in special situations.

For most people, approximatly 2 months of high dose are a good starting point, excluding the ramp up time.

Now, after this time, you can change to a lower dosage, as a maintenance dosage.

Anywhere from 300-900mg, sometimes 1200mg per day (if benfotiamin) is a good range.

Adjust intakes for carbohydrate intake, exercise level and also season wise.

High carbs = more B1

High activity = more B1

Winter = less B1

At no times should B1 taken WITHOUT Magnesium. These two are best buddies. They need each other.

Overall, this provides a good basis for using B1 to enhance your health, energy & ife.

This was it all.

Now, if you suffer from

• poor energy

• chronic disease

• metabolic problems

Feel free to add this newsletter to your list, as I cover protocols to overcome the most pressing diseases of our time.

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Cheers