What Is Sulbutiamine?

Sulbutiamine is a popular anxiolytic nootropic compound. It reduces anxiety while also boosting cognition in various ways.

Although Sulbutiamine sounds like some crazy chemical name, it’s not as complex as people think. Sulbutiamine is simply two modif
ied vitamin B1 (thiamine) molecules joined together. This chemical bond helps the compound more easily cross the blood-brain barrier, making Sulbutiamine superior to vitamin B1 supplements and pure thiamine.

Today, Sulbutiamine is sold under the brand name Arcalion. It’s prized for its stimulating properties and its ability to boost memory, alertness, and overall mental performance. Like other anxiolytics, it also improves our mood, inspires calmness, and reduces stress.

Sulbutiamine Background

Sulbutiamine was first synthesized by Japanese researchers who were looking for a more effective way to distribute thiamine to the people of Japan. After World War II, Japan’s diet mainly consisted of white rice, which was one of the few foods that could be grown naturally on the islands.

Rice provides good energy, but a rice-only diet leaves people deficient in certain key nutrients, including thiamine. As a result, the people of Japan were facing widespread lethargy, fatigue, and other health problems. This thiamine deficiency is known as Beriberi, which is a nervous system disorder.

Unfortunately for the Japanese, you can’t simply take thiamine to solve this problem – especially not when the problem is this severe. Thiamine has poor bioavailability, which means our bodies struggle to absorb it.

Researchers set out to find a way to synthesize thiamine while also increasing its bioavailability. Ultimately, Japanese researchers were able to synthesize thiamine in the form of Sulbutiamine and cure their country of Beriberi. It’s not often that nootropic researchers get to claim that they also saved their country, but that’s exactly what happened with the development of Sulbutiamine.

Prior to the Japanese synthesis of Sulbutiamine, thiamine had been isolated in 1926 and synthesized in 1936. By the 1970s, the Japanese synthesis was being tested throughout the world for its powerful nutritional effects and other health benefits.

Today, Sulbutiamine has undergone rigorous studies around the world. These studies have indicated a wide range of significant benefits that could come from Sulbutiamine supplementation.

In one 2002 study in Malaysia, Sulbutiamine was shown to improve peripheral nerve function in diabetic patients. Another 2003 study in India measured the effects of Sulbutiamine as an anti-infective treatment. Sulbutiamine “completely resolved all asthenic symptoms in about half the patients, with a further fifth showing substantial improvement.”

From cognitive benefits to improved mood, Sulbutiamine is one of the most popular and diverse nootropic supplements on the market today.

How Does Sulbutiamine Work?

Sulbutiamine is simply two thiamine (vitamin B1) molecules joined together with a molecular bond. As a result, its effects are similar to the effects of thiamine supplements – although much stronger and with greater bioavailability.

After you ingest Sulbutiamine, it travels through the digestive tract and hits the intestines. Sulbutiamine is absorbed through your intestines and enters the bloodstream. Because Sulbutiamine is a lipophilic molecule, it crosses the blood-brain barrier much more effectively than thiamine.

Once it’s within the brain, Sulbutiamine goes to work. This is where people are not totally sure how Sulbutiamine works: the mechanism of action isn’t totally understood, but the cholinergic system – and other parts of the brain – are involved.

Through various processes, Sulbutiamine ultimately causes thiamine and thiamine phosphate levels to increase. Sulbutiamine is a precursor to thiamine, and thiamine has been connected to a wide range of cognitive benefits. Thiamine eventually produces both GABA and acetylcholine.

At the same time, Sulbutiamine positively affects our mood by raising dopamine levels. The neurotransmitter dopamine plays a critical role in the brain’s pleasure-reward system and also enhances our ability to focus.

Obviously, the mechanisms behind Sulbutiamine and thiamine aren’t totally understood. However, in clinical testing and scientific, peer-reviewed studies, Sulbutiamine has proven its effectiveness and functionality over and over again.

Benefits of Sulbutiamine

Benefits of Sulbutiamine are very similar to the benefits of thiamine – although Sulbutiamine offers more powerful effects that go to work more quickly.

Here’s what you can expect while taking Sulbutiamine:

Improved Memory: Sulbutiamine affects dopamine, glutamate, and acetylcholine levels in your brain. All of these neurotransmitters are hugely responsible for memory formation – especially acetylcholine. Acetylcholine facilitates the absorption, storage, and recall of new information within the brain.

Enhanced Cognition: Because Sulbutiamine affects dopamine and glutamate systems, some users report feeling an enhanced ability for logical thought and overall cognition.

Increased Focus And Attention: Sulbutiamine enhances focus and attention by raising dopamine levels, helping you concentrate on the task at hand through executive functioning.

Reduced Anxiety And Stress: Sulbutiamine raises dopamine levels, promoting a feeling of calmness and reducing stress. Many people take Sulbutiamine for its powerful anti-depressive, anti-stress effects.

Improved Communication Between Neurons: Sulbutiamine optimizes communication between neurons, which typically leads to better alertness and attention. This is the same reason Sulbutiamine is used to treat asthenia, which is similar to chronic fatigue syndrome.

Reduce Symptoms Of Degenerative Brain Conditions: From Alzheimer’s to dementia, Sulbutiamine has shown promising results when used as a treatment for numerous degenerative brain conditions.

Protect Nerves: Sulbutiamine encourages healthier neuroprotectivity and enhances the protection of myelin sheaths, which protect neurotransmitters as they travel throughout the nervous system. This can help reduce symptoms of multiple sclerosis while also enhancing overall cognition and focus.

How to Use Sulbutiamine

The recommended dose of Sulbutiamine is 400mg to 1000mg within a 24 hour period. Your dosage will vary based on weight and other characteristics. Beginners are advised to start with a low dosage before working their way up to a higher dosage.

Sulbutiamine can be purchased as either a pill or a powder. Experienced users will typically buy the powder in bulk and then create capsules themselves. This gives you the convenience and accessibility of a capsule with the pricing of bulk powder. It’s also an excellent way to customize your doses, as experienced users may not feel the effects of the encapsulated form.

I recommend taking Sulbutiamine in capsule form purely for the taste: Sulbutiamine powder tastes awful. It’s a strong and foul taste and it’s very difficult to mask no matter how much milk you mix it with.

Why milk? Sulbutiamine is fat-soluble, which means it should not be mixed with juice or water. You’ll get the best results – in terms of absorption – by mixing Sulbutiamine with fish oil or milk. This will increase the effectiveness of your dose while also boosting the speed at which it goes to work.

When taking Sulbutiamine for extended periods of time, I advise cycling on and off the supplement to avoid developing a high tolerance. If you take Sulbutiamine for one week, for example, cycle off it for one or two weeks.

Sulbutiamine Side Effects

Sulbutiamine has a limited range of side effects. It’s incredibly safe to use when taken appropriately. There is a low risk of experiencing negative side effects – however, they do occur. Side effects are more common when taking Sulbutiamine in larger amounts – like beyond the recommended daily dose of 1000mg.

Common side effects include skin rashes and eczema-like discolorations. However, these rashes are typically mild, small, and don’t last for very long.

Some users also report experiencing mood swings. These side effects appear to be particularly common among those who are bipolar or currently on bipolar medication.

Other users report having trouble sleeping, or lose their appetite. Sulbutiamine acts as a mild stimulant by targeting dopamine receptors, which means that some users may have trouble falling asleep at night – especially when taking Sulbutiamine in the afternoon or evening.

There are also some reports of Sulbutiamine being addictive. There is no documented evidence of this trait, although you should be cautious when using any nootropic. As with anything, contact a healthcare professional before you start taking Sulbutiamine – especially if you have any current health concerns or are currently taking medication.

Buying Sulbutiamine Online

If you plan on buying Sulbutiamine, I highly recommend buying online. The internet is home to dozens of nootropic retailers which happily deliver to most corners of the planet. As long as the nootropic is unregulated in your country (or regulated and legalized), you’ll have no problems getting it shipped directly to your door.

Sulbutiamine is legal and widely available in over 30 countries, including India, Brazil, Egypt, Nigeria, and many countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. However, the drug is not regulated in many parts of the western world.

It’s neither manufactured nor marketed in the United States, for example, where it hasn’t received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration. That being said, you should have no trouble importing it for individual use because Sulbutiamine is unregulated – which makes it legal to obtain as a nutritional supplement.

Health Canada also considers Sulbutiamine to be unregulated, which means anyone can legally import it into Canada for personal use.

Ultimately, buying Sulbutiamine requires no prescription. When shopping at online stores, you’ll enjoy competitive pricing and a wide selection of Sulbutiamine brands and other nootropics. Popular Sulbutiamine brands include Arcalion and Enerion.