Some people feel tired, groggy, or noticeably worse when they try adding carbohydrates back after spending a long time low carb. This clip explores the role thiamine may play in that response. Because B1 is essential for processing glucose and turning it into usable energy, increasing thiamine may help restore the body's ability to handle carbohydrates efficiently and regain metabolic flexibility.

When thiamine deficiency becomes severe, the body can lose its ability to process glucose efficiently through the mitochondria, pushing more pyruvate toward lactate and, in extreme cases, contributing to lactic acidosis. This clip explores the metabolic similarities with the Warburg effect, where cancer cells rely heavily on glycolysis and produce large amounts of lactate despite abundant glucose. At the center of the discussion is pyruvate dehydrogenase, a critical gateway between glucose metabolism and mitochondrial energy production.

Making energy is like an assembly line. If one of the key enzymes slows down, everything behind it slows down too. This clip explains why thiamine sits at one of the most important bottlenecks in energy metabolism. When B1 is too low, the enzymes responsible for keeping energy production moving cannot work efficiently, and the entire process begins to stall. That is why having enough of every other nutrient may still not be enough if this one piece is missing.