Thiamine for Alzheimer's disease.

Vitamin B1 (thiamine) plays an important role in Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (a form of amnesia caused by brain damage occurring in long-term alcoholics who rely mainly on alcohol for nutrition). The acute syndrome is normally reversible but may proceed to profound dementia, although its progress can be stopped by a timely injection of a large dose of thiamine. There have been suggestions that thiamine may have a beneficial effect in Alzheimer's disease.