If you’ve ever wondered why “eat a balanced diet” is such persistent advice, the research on thiamine, selenium, and CoQ10 offers a clue: even small, common shortfalls in these nutrients are tied to measurable changes in how efficiently the body produces energy.
Thiamine and Cellular Energy Production
Thiamine (vitamin B1) plays a direct role in how cells produce usable energy. Falder et al. (2010) studied burn patients and found that higher serum thiamine was associated with lower blood levels of pyruvate and lactate. They linked this to thiamine’s role in pyruvate dehydrogenase — the first enzyme in the complex that oxidizes pyruvate into acetyl-CoA in the matrix of the mitochondria. The authors recommended supplementation to increase serum thiamine to a level of 40 ng/mL, in order to support the mitochondria to keep up with the pyruvate generated by glycolysis, allowing more of it to enter the TCA cycle rather than being converted into lactate.
A separate study by Lee et al. (2022) found a connection between low dietary thiamine and sleeping more than 8–9 hours per day, hypothesizing that people with lower thiamine intake may need more sleep because they produce ATP less efficiently. The study found a dose-response relationship: even the quartile with a median intake of 1.84 mg/day showed higher odds of oversleep than the quartile at 1.97 mg/day. Thiamine deficiency is considered rare in developed countries, but an analysis of NHANES 2003–2006 data (Berner et al., 2014) found that 9% of girls aged 14–18 had thiamine intake below the Estimated Average Requirement, with a mean intake of just 0.74 mg, while boys’ mean intake was 1.08 mg in the same age group. Pizza ranked as the third-largest source of dietary thiamine for this age group, behind bread and cereal. The RDA for 14-18 year olds is 1.2 mg for males and 1.1 mg for females.
Selenium and Cardiovascular Health
Selenium tells a similar story of a narrow, easy-to-miss range. Jujic et al. (2023) followed 4,803 Swedish adults born between 1921 and 1949 in a prospective cohort study and found that those with selenium levels below 70 ng/mL in 1972 were more likely to develop heart failure over the following 14 years. They pointed to selenium’s role in redox homeostasis and glutathione peroxidase activity, citing two prior meta-analyses linking low selenium to cardiovascular disease. But too much selenium can also be problematic. The authors caution that selenium levels above 150 ng/mL were associated with increased mortality risk, and cite other research showing that glutathione peroxidase activity doesn’t rise further once serum selenium exceeds about 90 ng/mL — a threshold most Americans, whose levels typically run above 95 ng/mL, have already cleared. They cite a larger study from Bleys et al. (2008), who measured selenium in 13,887 U.S. adults as part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988–2006). Mean serum selenium was 125.6 ng/mL, and levels below 130 ng/mL were associated with higher all-cause and cancer mortality. In other words, the goal isn’t maximizing selenium intake; it’s staying within a healthy middle range, which may be between 130 and 150 ng/mL.
CoQ10 and Athletic Performance
Mitochondrial support isn’t only relevant to people experiencing fatigue or managing a diagnosed condition such as diabetes. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is another nutrient tied to energy metabolism, and its effects have been studied even in healthy, active young adults. A systematic review by Fernandes et al. (2023) looked at CoQ10 supplementation in athletes and found reductions in oxidative stress, increased antioxidant capacity, improved anaerobic performance, and reduced fatigue. Across the studies reviewed, dosages ranged from 30 to 300 mg over periods of 11 to 60 days, with anaerobic performance measured in various ways, including muscle strength and power output.
The Takeaway
Thiamine, selenium, and CoQ10 act at different points in the body’s energy-production machinery, but the pattern across all three is the same: modest, subclinical insufficiencies in nutrient status — not just outright deficiency — are associated with measurable effects on metabolism, fatigue, and long-term health outcomes. That’s a useful reminder that “getting enough” isn’t just about avoiding deficiency disease; it’s about landing in the range where your mitochondria can perform their best.
References
Berner, L. A., Keast, D. R., Bailey, R. L., & Dwyer, J. T. (2014). Fortified foods are major contributors to nutrient intakes in diets of US children and adolescents. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 114(7), 1009.
Bleys, J., Navas-Acien, A., & Guallar, E. (2008). Serum selenium levels and all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality among US adults. Archives of Internal Medicine, 168(4), 404–410.
Falder, S., Silla, R., Phillips, M., Rea, S., Gurfinkel, R., Baur, E., Bartley, A., Wood, F. M., & Fear, M. W. (2010). Thiamine supplementation increases serum thiamine and reduces pyruvate and lactate levels in burn patients. Burns, 36(2), 261–269.
Fernandes, M. S. de S., Fidelis, D. E. da S., Aidar, F. J., Badicu, G., Greco, G., Cataldi, S., Santos, G. C. J., de Souza, R. F., & Ardigò, L. P. (2023). Coenzyme Q10 supplementation in athletes: A systematic review. Nutrients, 15(18), 3990.
Jujic, A., Molvin, J., Schomburg, L., Hartmann, O., Bergmann, A., Melander, O., & Magnusson, M. (2023). Selenoprotein P deficiency is associated with higher risk of incident heart failure. Free Radical Biology & Medicine, 207, 11–16.
Lee, D., Kim, K., Lee, Y., Oh, K., & Jung, S. J. (2022). The relationship between thiamine intake and long sleep duration: Results from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, 55(6), 520–528.
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