Highlights
- •Increasing evidence links thiamine deficiency (TD) with many cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and risk factors.
- •The reciprocal association of insulin with thiamine could partially explain the unclear link between diabetes mellitus and TD.
- •In previous reports, intravenous thiamine administration resulted in improvement of cardiac functions and hemodynamic features.
- •TD is a common finding in patients with CVDs and it might have a role in the development and prognosis of these disorders.
Abstract
Background and aim
Thiamine, also known as vitamin B1, functions as a cofactor in the metabolism of carbohydrates
and amino acids. Thiamine deficiency has been suggested to be associated with many
cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and risk factors including type 1 and type 2 diabetes
(T1D and T2D, respectively), obesity, chronic vascular inflammation, dyslipidemia,
heart failure (HF), myocardial infarction (MI) and conduction defects, and depression.
The aim of this review was to explore the evidence of thiamine deficiency among subjects
with CVDs or risk factors, illustrate the theories explaining the thiamine-CVDs associations,
and describe the effect of thiamine supplementation.
Methods
Human and animal studies were collected from various scientific databases following
the PRISMA guidelines without limitation regarding the publication year. Studies investigating
the prevalence of thiamine deficiency among patients with CVDs and the effect of thiamine
supplementation on their conditions were summarized.
Results and conclusions
Thiamine deficiency could have a role in the development of CVDs. Future studies should
focus on the impact of thiamine supplementation on reversing CVDs and risk factors
associated with its deficiency.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 22, 2018
Accepted:
June 13,
2018
Received in revised form:
June 13,
2018
Received:
April 23,
2018
Handling Editor: A. SianiIdentification
Copyright
© 2018 The Italian Society of Diabetology, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition, and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
