Home
You can view the current or previous issues of Diabetes Health online, in their entirety, anytime you want.
Click Here To View
See if you qualify for our free healthcare professional magazines. Click here to start your application for Pre-Diabetes Health, Diabetes Health Pharmacist and Diabetes Health Professional.
Latest Diabetes Articles
Popular Diabetes Articles
Highly Recommended Diabetes Articles
Email to a Friend
Send a link to this page to your friends and colleagues.
Big News About Vitamin B and Diabetes
People with type 1 or type 2 diabetes have about three-quarters less thiamine (vitamin B) in their blood than people without diabetes, according to new research out of Warwick Medical School in England. And it's not because they're not eating enough thiamine.
They run short because when the thiamine passes through their kidneys, it's not reabsorbed back into the blood like it is in other people. Instead, it just goes straight out: kidney clearance of thiamine is increased 24-fold in type 1 and 16-fold in type 2.
Oddly enough, this deficiency has never been noted before because researchers had been fooled by measuring an enzyme whose activity is usually reduced when thiamine levels are low. In people with diabetes, the enzyme's activity was still normal, causing earlier researchers to assume that thiamine levels were also normal.
And what are the unfortunate effects of this thiamine shortage? The low thiamine levels are linked to an increase in an inflammation marker related to microvascular and macrovascular complications. The marker reflects higher likelihood of problems in the endothelial cells that line the circulatory system and of chronic artery wall inflammation.
The researchers report that vitamin B has been shown to prevent vascular problems in previous studies. They estimate that because around forty percent of diabetic people develop vascular complications despite good blood glucose control, vitamin B supplementation could lead to as much as a forty percent decrease in those complications.
Although the currently recommended dietary intake of vitamin B is about 1 milligram, the study authors suggest that a supplement of about 100 milligrams might be of use. Don't act too fast, however, because they are calling for clinical trials to investigate the matter first.
Sources: Diabetologia, August 2007; Physorg.com; UK News
Categories: Blood Glucose, Diabetes, Diabetes, Type 1 Issues, Type 2 Issues, Vitamins
You May Also Be Interested In...
-
Diabetes Health
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
-
Topics
- Diabetic / Diabetes Health
- Type 1 / 1.5 Diabetes
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Blood Glucose / Sugar
- High/Low Blood Sugar / Fast Acting Glucose
- Insulin- Pumps, Pens & Syringes
- Continuous Glucose Monitors, CGM, Infusion Sets
- Type 2 Medications
- Hyperglycemia
- Hypoglycemia
Comments
I am a type 2 diabetic and after starting B complex. I dropped not only 11 pounds but my sugars too. I swear all the phantom joint pain I was experiencing disappeared at the same time. I will never go without B again !!
Anyone else benifited from vitamin B usage with helping with their diabetes
my grandma did take it
but i still dont know if it benifited her or not
i think i would ask her ..
thnx alot ..
Is there a vitamin with the recommended amounts of vitamin B (B-1, B-6, B-12)and folic acid for diabetic nerve pain?
Someone needs to develop a B Vitamin specifically for diabetics. It would have NO niacin, but lots of B-12, Folic Acid & Biotin. All B vitamins are not created equal.
Add your comments about this article below. You can add comments as a registered user or anonymously. If you choose to post anonymously your comments will be sent to our moderator for approval before they appear on this page. If you choose to post as a registered user your comments will appear instantly.
When voicing your views via the comment feature, please respect the Diabetes Health community by refraining from comments that could be considered offensive to other people. Diabetes Health reserves the right to remove comments when necessary to maintain the cordial voice of the diabetes community.
For your privacy and protection, we ask that you do not include personal details such as address or telephone number in any comments posted.
Don't have your Diabetes Health Username? Register now and add your comments to all our content.
Register...
Register your Diabetes Health Username here.
Have Your Say...