Researcher Meador and colleagues, for example, published two studies showing improvement when high doses of thiamine were administered to Alzheimer's type dementia patients. (Meador K, Loring D, Nichols M, Zanrini E, Rivner M, Posas H, Thompson E, Moore E: Preliminary findings of high-dose thiamine in dementia of Alzheimer's type, Journal of Geriatrics, Psychiatry, & Neurology 6: 222-229, 1993 and Meador KJ, Nichols ME, Franke P, Durkin MU, Oberzan RL, Moore EE, Loring DW: Evidence for a central cholinergic effect of high-dose thiamine in dementia of Alzheimer's type disease, Annals of Neurology 34 (5): 724-726, 1993.)
A research publication of June, 1994, stated that University of Florida neurologists at Gainesville are conducting a study on Alzheimer's patients using thiamine. They want to determine whether it can improve memory with fewer side effects than existing medications. They are using supplements in the study to control the amount each person takes.
Use of supplements is great for a study, but if you are trying to increase thiamine in your diet, it is wiser to do it with food. (You will find recipes high in thiamine later in the recipe sections.) In food you can balance the B vitamins and, as a result, they will not compete with each other in the intestines for absorption by the body.
Experiments are still being conducted today on the benefits of including thiamine in our foods. As I noted in the opening, what do we have to lose if we eat thiamine-rich foods? Nothing, and we may just improve our memories and cognitive function. Thiamine may or may not help with Alzheimer's disease, but again, after reading the above research, think of all the health benefits we could gain, using thiamine-rich foods in our daily diets, to help reduce our risk for potential health complications.
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