and doesn’t have hidden sugars.
The Importance of Vitamin B1
So, that will fix the pump, but the very reason why the pump went bad is what we want to talk about next: a deficiency of vitamin B1. When you eat sugar in the body, it has to be broken down into a smaller sugar molecule called glucose. Then it has to enter the mitochondria to be turned into energy. In order for it to go from this step to this step, this one little enzyme, transketolase, requires vitamin B1. If you don’t have enough, you will not be able to use that as energy.
The number one cause of a B1 deficiency is consuming too many carbohydrates in the refined form. For example, if you eat all this refined sugar without B1, the body has to pull from its reserves—from different tissues, organs, and glands. Eventually, you’ll be deficient. B1 is also very important as an antioxidant to protect the nerves. This is why, when you run out of B1, you get peripheral neuropathy, which is tingling, numbness, and burning on the bottom of your feet.
The point is that B1 is so important in carbohydrate metabolism and protecting
