Vitamin B1 Sources & Supplements

Food sources

A varied diet should provide most individuals with adequate thiamin to prevent deficiency. In the U.S. the average dietary thiamin intake for young adult men is about 2 mg/day and 1.2 mg/day for young adult women. A survey of people over the age of 60 found an average dietary thiamin intake of 1.4 mg/day for men and 1.1 mg/day for women.

However, institutionalization and poverty increase the likelihood of inadequate thiamin intake in the elderly.Whole grain cereals, legumes (e.g., beans and lentils), nuts, lean pork, and yeast are rich sources of thiamin. Because most of the thiamin is lost during the production of white flour and polished (milled) rice, white rice and foods made from white flour (e.g., bread and pasta) are fortified with thiamin. A number of thiamin-rich foods are listed in the table below along with their thiamin content in milligrams (mg). For more information on the nutrient content of foods you eat frequently, search the USDA food composition database.

Food	Serving	Thiamin (mg)
Lentils (cooked)	1/2 cup	0.17
Peas (cooked)	1/2 cup	0.21
Long grain brown rice (cooked)	1 cup	0.19
Long grain white rice, enriched (cooked)	1 cup	0.26
Long grain white rice, unenriched (cooked)	1 cup	0.03
Whole wheat bread	1 slice	0.10
White bread , enriched	1 slice	0.12
Fortified breakfast cereal	1 cup	0.5-2.0
Wheat germ breakfast cereal	1 cup	1.89
Pork, lean (cooked)	3 ounces*	0.74
Brazil nuts	1 ounce	0.28
Pecans	1 ounce	0.13
Spinach ( cooked)	1/2 cup	0.09
Orange	1 fruit	0.11
Cantaloupe	1/2 fruit	0.10
Milk	1 cup	0.10
Egg (cooked)	1 large	0.03

*3 ounces of meat is a serving about the size of a deck of cards

Supplements

Thiamin is available in nutritional supplements and for fortification as thiamin hydrochloride and thiamin nitrate.