In the late 19th century, a Dutch doctor in Java was looking for a germ. What he found instead—almost by accident—helped launch the science of vitamins. The clue came from chickens, rice, and a change in the kitchen that removed more than a layer of polish.
That story leads to thiamine, or vitamin B1: a small nutrient with an essential job in turning food into usable cellular energy. Runners need a steady supply because the body stores only small amounts. Food should provide the foundation, but work, family, travel, training, and ordinary imperfect meals can make nutritional consistency harder than it sounds. That is where a daily multivitamin can serve as useful nutritional insurance.
The chicken experiment that pointed toward a missing nutrient
Christiaan Eijkman arrived in the Dutch East Indies in the 1880s to investigate beriberi, a serious illness affecting the nerves and heart. The leading theory blamed an infectious germ. Eijkman tried to grow it, using chickens as experimental animals. Then the birds in his laboratory developed a paralysis-like illness that resembled beriberi.
The odd part was the feed. The chickens had been eating polished white rice from a nearby military kitchen. When the kitchen switched to unpolished rice, the birds improved; when polished rice returned, the illness did too. The switch had not added a medicine. It had restored the outer layers of the grain that milling had removed. At first Eijkman thought the rice coating might neutralize a poison in the white rice. His colleague Gerrit Grijns helped make the sharper interpretation: the husk contained something essential that the polished grain lacked.
Other researchers extended the clue. Japanese naval physician Takaki Kanehiro had earlier reduced beriberi on a voyage by changing sailors’ monotonous rice diet, though he credited protein rather than a specific micronutrient. In 1912, Casimir Funk proposed that “accessory factors” in food could prevent deficiency diseases and coined “vitamine”—from “vital amine.” He had not cleanly isolated B1, and not every vitamin turned out to be an amine, so the final “e” was later dropped. Dutch chemists Barend Jansen and Willem Donath isolated and crystallized the anti-beriberi factor from rice bran in 1926. The mystery had moved from a chicken coop to chemistry.
What thiamine does—and what that means on a run
Thiamine is converted in the body to thiamine diphosphate, a cofactor used by enzymes that help process glucose and other fuel molecules. Think of it less as a spark plug that creates energy and more as a necessary part in the machinery that lets cells extract energy from food. If the machinery does not have what it needs, it cannot do its job properly. Thiamine is not optional simply because it does not behave like a stimulant.
For healthy adults, the U.S. recommended dietary allowance is 1.2 mg per day for men and 1.1 mg for women. There is no separate higher RDA for runners. Most people in the United States consume recommended amounts, according to NIH’s Office of Dietary Supplements. Situations such as a highly restricted diet, alcohol dependence, or problems affecting absorption can change the picture; those are reasons for individualized medical guidance, not self-diagnosis from training fatigue.
Essential every day, not a race-day trick
Thiamine is not caffeine. Taking a large dose before a race has not been shown to make an adequately nourished runner faster. But that is not really the job of a multivitamin. Its job is consistency: helping maintain a dependable supply of essential nutrients across weeks when meals, travel, appetite, and training schedules vary.
The direct performance research is limited. A small 1996 study tested 100 mg/day of thiamine in relation to exercise-induced fatigue, while another small study examined endurance training and supplementation in university students. Neither establishes that thiamine improves race performance in middle-aged recreational runners. We should not market B1 as a speed booster. We should recognize it as an essential nutrient worth covering every day.
Food first: easy ways to cover B1
Useful sources include pork, beans, fish, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and fortified breads and cereals. For a practical weeknight meal, black beans with brown rice or a pork-and-grain bowl can contribute thiamine without turning dinner into a supplement protocol. Enriched white rice also contributes some B1; milling removes much of the naturally occurring thiamine, and enrichment adds some back.
Food and supplementation do not need to compete. Food provides protein, carbohydrate, fiber, healthy fats, and thousands of compounds that no tablet can replace. A multivitamin has a narrower role: helping cover essential micronutrients consistently when real-world eating falls short of the ideal. Some weeks contain carefully planned meals. Other weeks contain a granola bar eaten in the car. Nutritional insurance is meant for both.
There is no special pre-run timing ritual for thiamine. It is a daily nutrient, not a fast-acting race-day booster. One modest kitchen note: thiamine dissolves in water and heat can reduce it, so if you boil grains or legumes, using the cooking liquid in the meal helps avoid pouring some of the nutrient down the drain.
| Food | Serving | Thiamine |
|---|---|---|
| Fortified breakfast cereal | 1 serving (100% DV) | 1.2 mg |
| Pork chop | 3 oz cooked | 0.4 mg |
| Black beans | ½ cup cooked | 0.4 mg |
| Brown rice | ½ cup cooked | 0.2 mg |
Values vary by product and preparation; these NIH examples are useful reference points, not a meal-planning prescription.
Why PEREGRUNE includes more than the Daily Value
PEREGRUNE Runner Multivitamin provides 33 mg of thiamine as thiamine mononitrate per two-tablet serving. That is 2,775% of the 1.2 mg Daily Value, or 27.5 times the Daily Value. It is a substantial amount.
The point is not that 27.5 times the Daily Value makes you run 27.5 times better. Nutrition does not work that way. Thiamine is water-soluble, the body stores relatively little of it, and absorption declines as intake rises. NIH has not established a tolerable upper intake level because adverse effects from high thiamine intake have not been reported.
We include thiamine as part of PEREGRUNE’s broader B-complex to help runners maintain consistent daily coverage. Food remains the foundation. The multivitamin is the backstop for the inevitable gaps created by busy days, travel, limited food choices, and changing routines. It is nutritional insurance built for the way Citizen Runners actually live.
Quick questions
Does running increase the thiamine requirement?
There is no separate runner-specific RDA. Eating enough and including thiamine sources across the week is the sensible baseline.
If I eat well, why take a multivitamin?
Because eating well and eating perfectly are different things. A varied diet should remain the foundation, but a daily multivitamin can help maintain essential nutrient intake when individual meals or entire days are less complete than planned. Think of it as nutritional insurance, not permission to ignore your diet.
Can I take B1 right before a race for energy?
There is no good evidence that a pre-race thiamine dose boosts performance in runners who already get enough. Use familiar race-day food and hydration strategies instead.
Is fatigue a sign I need thiamine?
Fatigue has many possible causes, and this article cannot diagnose one. Persistent or concerning symptoms deserve a clinician’s assessment rather than a high-dose supplement experiment.
The bottom line
Thiamine’s origin story began with chickens that recovered when rice bran returned to their feed. The lesson was not that B1 matters only when it produces a measurable performance boost. It was that tiny amounts of essential nutrients can determine whether the body’s basic machinery works properly.
Get thiamine from foods such as beans, pork, fish, whole grains, seeds, and fortified staples. Then use a daily multivitamin as a consistent backstop. PEREGRUNE Runner Multivitamin provides 33 mg of thiamine per two-tablet serving to help runners maintain that daily nutritional foundation, even when life does not produce a textbook-perfect diet.
Dietary supplement disclaimer: This article is for general education and is not medical advice. Dietary supplements are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Sources
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements: Thiamin Fact Sheet for Health Professionals
- Nobel Prize: The Nobel Prize and the discovery of vitamins
- Nobel Prize: Christiaan Eijkman biographical
- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada, ACSM: Nutrition and Athletic Performance (2016)
- Suzuki et al. Exercise-induced fatigue and thiamine supplementation (1996)
- Choi et al. Endurance training and thiamine supplementation (2013)
