What is the Difference Between Benfotiamine and Thiamine

The key difference between benfotiamine and thiamine is that Benfotiamine has a faster absorption rate in the body than thiamine.

Benfotiamine is a chemical substance that is chemically similar to thiamine. When we take Benfotiamine through the mouth, it converts into thiamine inside our bodies.

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Benfotiamine
3. What is Thiamine
4. Benfotiamine vs Thiamine in Tabular Form
5. Summary

What is Benfotiamine?

Benfotiamine is a chemical substance that is similar to thiamine, but our body can absorb it better than thiamine. When we take Benfotiamine through the mouth, it converts into thiamine inside our bodies. Usually, this substance is produced from certain plants, e.g. garlic and onion. It can also be produced inside a laboratory through a chemical reaction. Benfotiamine is useful as a medicine for nerve damage that is caused by diabetes and alcoholism. Also, we can use this substance as a medication for Alzheimer disease, arthritis, etc.

Figure 01: Appearance of Benfotiamine Molecule

Thiamin is an essential micronutrient for our body. However, some people do not have thiamine in sufficient amounts in our body. Since our body can absorb Benfotiamine faster than thiamine, we can use Benfotiamine as a medication to treat thiamine deficiency.

When considering the side effects of Benfotiamine, they are very rare, but some people have reported stomach problems and skin rashes.

What is Thiamine?

Thiamine is a vitamin compound that we can find in food, medicine, and dietary supplements. It is also known as thiamin or vitamin B1. The major sources of food containing thiamine include whole grains, legumes, some meat types and fish. Moreover, the grain process can remove most of the thiamine from grains; thus, most of the cereals and flour are enriched with thiamine. Lack of thiamine can cause thiamine deficiency. The disorders that can result in thiamine deficiency include beriberi and Wernicke encephalopathy.

Figure 02: The Chemical Structure of Thiamine

The routes of administration for thiamine include oral administration, IV and IM. The drug class of this medication is “vitamin”, and the elimination half-life of it is 1.8 days. The chemical formula for thiamine is C12H17N4OS+. The molar mass of this substance is 265.35 g/mol. This is an essential micronutrient that our body cannot produce itself. However, we need this vitamin for metabolism functions, including glucose, amino acid, and lipid metabolism. Therefore, we need to get it either from food or from dietary supplements.

Typically, thiamine is non-toxic and well-tolerated upon oral administration. However, there can be side effects of it that rarely occurs upon the IV administration, which include allergic reactions, nausea, lethargy, and impaired coordination.

When considering the chemical properties of thiamine, it is a colourless organosulfur compound having an unpleasant sulfur odour, and its chemical structure contains an aminopyrimidine and a thiazonium ring that are linked with each other through a methylene bridge. This substance is water-soluble and also soluble in water, methanol, and glycerol. Practically, it is less soluble in less polar solvents. Furthermore, it has basic properties, which makes it able to react with acids forming salts.

What is the Difference Between Benfotiamine and Thiamine?

Benfotiamine is a chemical substance that is chemically similar to thiamine. When we take Benfotiamine through the mouth, it converts into thiamine inside our bodies. The key difference between benfotiamine and thiamine is that absorption of Benfotiamine by our body is better than thiamine.

The following table summarizes the difference between benfotiamine and thiamine as a side by side comparison.

Summary – Benfotiamine vs Thiamine

Benfotiamine is a chemical substance that is chemically similar to thiamine. When we take Benfotiamine through the mouth, it converts into thiamine inside our body. The key difference between benfotiamine and thiamine is that absorption of Benfotiamine by our body is better than thiamine. Therefore, Benfotiamine is important in treating thiamine deficiency.

Reference:

1. “BENFOTIAMINE: Overview, Uses, Side Effects, Precautions, Interactions, Dosing and Reviews.” WebMD.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Benfotiamine ball-and-stick” By MarinaVladivostok – Own work (CC0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Thiamin“By NEUROtiker – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia