When Dr. Lantelme and I decide what supplements to create, it usually comes from looking at how our patients are suffering “globally,” as well as what’s missing in the market.

That’s how we decided to create Thiamine Syn3rgy.

This supplement provides a trifecta of ingredients that help to support healthy thiamine levels.

But why would you want to do that in the first place, you may wonder?

Great question.

As it turns out, thiamine, also known as vitamin B1, is one of those nutrients most people don’t think about until something goes wrong.

Yet the body depends on it constantly.

Thiamine helps turn carbohydrates, fats, and amino acids into usable cellular energy.

Its active form works as a cofactor for enzymes involved in glucose metabolism and energy production. The nervous system depends heavily on these pathways, which is one reason low thiamine can eventually affect the brain, nerves, muscles, and even the heart.

Unlike some nutrients, the body stores very little thiamine, so we need a regular supply from food.

Think about it this way.

Thiamine is a spark plug.

Food may provide plenty of fuel, but cells still need the machinery that helps turn that fuel into energy. When thiamine becomes seriously depleted, that machinery starts struggling.

And so now we get into what happens when levels fall below healthy levels.

What Happens When You’re Not Getting Enough Thiamine?

Early deficiency can be frustratingly nonspecific. That is why a supplement isn’t the first thing you should use to address it.

Low levels usually manifest in

• Fatigue

• Muscle weakness

• Appetite changes

• Confusion

• Short-term memory problems

More advanced deficiency can damage peripheral nerves and cause numbness, weakness, poor reflexes, or cardiovascular problems.

Severe deficiency can cause beriberi or Wernicke encephalopathy, which is a medical emergency. 

When this occurs, people may have severe confusion, difficulty walking, abnormal eye movements, or other signs suggesting severe thiamine deficiency. Those patients may require urgent intravenous or intramuscular thiamine.

Fortunately, severe deficiency isn’t common in most well-nourished Americans.

Mild or marginal status can be easier to miss.

I pay closer attention in people with chronic heavy alcohol use, older adults with poor diets, people who’ve undergone bariatric surgery, and those with conditions that interfere with nutrient absorption.

Diabetes has also been associated with lower thiamine levels in some studies, possibly because more thiamine is lost through the kidneys. Certain medications, including the loop diuretic furosemide (Lasix), may increase losses as well.

There’s another piece I think gets overlooked: finding low thiamine should lead to the question, why?

Why in this day and age would someone have low levels?

If someone isn’t eating enough, fix the diet. If alcohol is disrupting absorption, address the alcohol. If gastrointestinal disease or surgery is interfering with absorption, that requires attention too.

Replacing a nutrient without addressing why it became low is only half the job.

Obviously, the best place to source thiamine is food.

Adult men generally need about 1.2 milligrams (which isn’t much at all) of thiamine daily, while adult women need about 1.1 milligrams. Pregnancy and breastfeeding increase that requirement to about 1.4 milligrams.

Good sources include pork, trout, beans, whole grains, enriched breads and cereals, brown rice, sunflower seeds, and some other legumes and grains.

For perspective, a half cup of cooked black beans provides roughly one-third of the Daily Value, as does a three-ounce serving of pork or trout. (Official NIH page)

Those are not exotic foods.

Someone eating on a tight budget can get thiamine from beans, whole grains, fortified cereals, enriched breads, and other inexpensive staples. A person who eats meat may get a substantial amount from pork.

I prefer getting nutrients through whole foods when that reliably meets the need because food gives us more than one isolated vitamin. Beans bring thiamine along with fiber, magnesium, potassium, and protein. Whole grains provide a broader nutrient package too.

But food and supplementation don’t have to compete.

When Supplementation Makes Sense

Supplementation becomes more interesting when intake is inadequate, requirements are increased, absorption is compromised, or there’s a specific clinical reason to suspect low status.

Standard supplements commonly use thiamine hydrochloride or thiamine mononitrate. These are stable, water-soluble forms of B1. Benfotiamine is different. It’s a synthetic thiamine derivative that is converted into thiamine in the body. Benfotiamine has attracted particular attention in metabolic and nerve health research.

An earlier randomized, placebo-controlled trial involving people with diabetic polyneuropathy found improvement in a neuropathy symptom score after six weeks, particularly with the higher benfotiamine dose. That was encouraging human data, but it was short-term.

A newer 2026 randomized trial gives us a more restrained picture. Researchers gave people with type 2 diabetes and symptomatic polyneuropathy 600 milligrams of benfotiamine daily for 12 months. Benfotiamine substantially increased blood thiamine metabolites and was well tolerated, but it didn’t significantly improve the trial’s major structural, nerve-function, or clinical neuropathy outcomes compared with placebo.

I think that’s exactly how supplement research should be discussed.

Benfotiamine clearly changes thiamine availability.

Whether that translates into meaningful symptom improvement depends on the patient, the reason it’s being used, and probably whether thiamine inadequacy is actually part of the problem.

More isn’t automatically better.

What About Sulbutiamine?

Sulbutiamine is another synthetic derivative of thiamine. It was developed to alter the way thiamine is delivered and has been studied for neurological effects, cognition, and fatigue.

Some interesting findings include a small controlled trial suggesting improved fatigue in certain patients with multiple sclerosis. But clinical research remains limited and inconsistent.

A review of the evidence concluded that potential neurological and anti-fatigue effects deserve further study, rather than being treated as established benefits.

So when I see sulbutiamine marketed as a guaranteed brain booster, I’m not keen to agree, as the claims seem to have outpaced the data.

Where Thiamine Syn3rgy Fits

That brings me to why we formulated Thiamine Syn3rgy differently from a basic B1 supplement.

Our formula combines three forms: thiamine HCl, benfotiamine, and sulbutiamine. 

The goal is to provide foundational vitamin B1 support while also including thiamine derivatives studied for different metabolic and neurological applications. The product is intended to support normal energy metabolism, nerve health, and cognitive function.

I’d describe that as broader thiamine support, not a treatment for every symptom associated with fatigue or brain fog.

Consider that if someone is genuinely low in thiamine, giving the body more B1 can correct an important nutritional problem. If someone already has adequate thiamine status, taking more does not guarantee more energy, sharper memory, or healthier nerves.

And when fatigue or brain fog is persistent, I still want to look deeper. Poor sleep, thyroid problems, anemia, vitamin B12 deficiency, insulin resistance, medication effects, depression, chronic infection, inadequate calories, and many other issues can produce similar symptoms.

A supplement shouldn’t replace asking those questions.

Thiamine does something fundamental: It helps the body extract usable energy from the food we eat while supporting the nervous system, muscles, and other tissues with high energy demands.

The first step is making sure enough is coming in. Pork, fish, beans, whole grains, fortified foods, seeds, and other everyday foods can accomplish that for many people.

Supplementation can be useful when diet isn’t enough or when there’s a reason to think a person needs additional support. A formula such as Thiamine Syn3rgy offers multiple forms of B1 for someone looking for a more comprehensive approach, while the research on benfotiamine and sulbutiamine continues to evolve.

What I don’t want people doing is treating every episode of fatigue as proof they need more thiamine.

Start with the biology. Look at food. Look at absorption. Look at medications and medical conditions. Correct deficiencies when they’re present.

That approach isn’t as exciting as assuming one vitamin explains everything.

It’s usually much more useful.