Benfotiamine is a synthetic, fat-soluble derivative of vitamin B1 (thiamine).
Because it’s fat-soluble, the body absorbs it much more efficiently than the common water-soluble thiamine salts (like thiamine hydrochloride). So you can get much higher thiamine levels into tissues using much lower doses.
Why do people care about it?
Because regular thiamine is very water-soluble and the body dumps most of it in the urine — absorption and tissue penetration are limited.
Benfotiamine was developed to get more thiamine into cells — especially nerve tissue. It crosses membranes more easily, so intracellular thiamine levels rise higher and stay higher.
Where is it used / studied?
Most research is in:
| Area | Why it’s used |
| Diabetic neuropathy | reduces AGEs (advanced glycation end products) + oxidative stress pathways |
| Cognitive support | theoretical support via glucose metabolism + mitochondrial support |
| General | “anti-glycation” uses used in some anti-aging supplement protocols |
Mechanism (in normal English)
Glucose metabolism generates toxic by-products (AGEs, advanced glycation end products). Those damage nerves, vessels, retina etc. Benfotiamine activates the “transketolase” pathway which shunts those by-products away before they can become AGEs.
Evidence
Human trials (mostly in diabetics) have shown benefit in:
- diabetic neuropathy (reduced pain, numbness, paresthesia)
- markers of microvascular damage (retina, kidney)
It’s not a miracle, but the clinical signal is decent.
Dosing
Typical supplement range in studies:
- 150 mg – 600 mg per day (split doses)
Safety
Very well tolerated. Occasional GI upset or mild rashes have been reported. No known hepatotoxicity. Very low interaction profile.
Important
Benfotiamine is not the same as allithiamine / sulbutiamine / thiamine HCl. They each have different chemistry and brain penetration characteristics.
If you tell me your context (e.g. are you thinking about it for diabetic neuropathy? cognitive energy? post-alcohol damage? long COVID fatigue?), I can give a more tailored summary on whether it might be useful, and whether benfotiamine specifically is the right form for your use case.