Vitamin B1 loss related to alcoholism, leads to dementia
Vienese researchers have found that alcoholism and extreme alcohol consumption, evident in five percent of the Austrian population, leads to B1 loss and excess iron in the brain. The iron deposits contribute to dementia. In a release, a team at Medical University of Vienna state: "A common consequence of chronically high alcohol consumption is a decline in cognitive function, which can even progress to full-blown dementia. However, we do not yet fully understand how alcohol damages the brain. A research group led by Stephan Listabarth from MedUni Vienna's Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Division of Social Psychiatry, has now developed a hypothesis whereby iron deposits in the brain – resulting from alcohol-induced vitamin B1 deficiency – can be regarded as key factors in cognitive decline. The work has now been published in the leading journal "Alzheimer’s and Dementia". Researchers find that thiamine can be useful in offsetting the ill effects. In the ...