Thiamine Alarms: 19 Subtle Signs Your Body Needs Vitamin B1

5. Lack Or Loss Of Appetite

One of the most common symptoms of a thiamine deficiency is a lack or loss of appetite. It seems the part of the brain that affects appetite is altered when there is a thiamine deficiency. When individuals have a deficiency in thiamine, their body thinks it is full or satisfied when it is not. This causes less food to be eaten, weight loss, and potential eating disorders. If an individual's body is telling them it does not need food because it is full, the individual will be less inclined to eat. Conversely, there are times the body cannot seem to be satiated and individuals will not be able to get enough food. The problem with a thiamine deficiency is it affects the functioning of the satiety center in the brain and causes problems of being full to being hungry at an extreme level.

6. Swelling In The Legs

Swelling in the legs may be indicative of a thiamine deficiency. This symptom is related to the cardiovascular involvement that occurs with a shortage of thiamine. A thiamine deficiency triggers a cascade of events, including the dilation of blood vessels in an affected individual's limbs. When this occurs, the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in the body leaps into action. The detection of volume loss in the blood vessels causes the affected individual's kidneys to react by retaining salt, which leads to the retention of fluids. This mechanism in the body increases blood pressure to prevent ischemic events. However, adverse symptoms can occur as a result of the overactivation of such homeostatic mechanism. Individuals affected by a thiamine deficiency retain significantly higher amounts of salt and fluid in their body, which eventually results in fluid overload. Excess fluid in circulation can be dangerous, so the fluid begins to leak through the blood vessel walls instead of continuing to accumulate in circulation. This mechanism is what causes swelling in the legs due to the force of gravity on the tissues containing this excess fluid.