Vitamin B1 could reverse early-stage kidney disease in diabetes patients

[Celebration]

http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=562

Researchers at the University of Warwick have discovered high doses of thiamine – vitamin B1 – can reverse the onset of early diabetic kidney disease.

Kidney disease, or diabetic nephropathy, develops progressively in patients with type 2 diabetes. Early development of kidney disease is assessed by a high excretion rate of the protein albumin from the body in the urine, known as microalbuminuria.

The research is led by Dr Naila Rabbani and Professor Paul J Thornalley at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Punjab and Sheik Zaid Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan.

The team has discovered taking high oral doses of thiamine can dramatically decrease the excretion of albumin and reverse early stage kidney disease in type 2 diabetes patients.

In a paper published online in the journal Diabetologia, the team show 300 mg of thiamine taken orally each day for three months reduced the rate of albumin excretion in type 2 diabetes patients. The albumin excretion rate was decreased by 41% from the value at the start of the study. The results also showed 35% of patients with microalbuminuria saw a return to normal urinary albumin excretion after being treated with thiamine.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. okay, so what food do we no longer eat

gave us the thiamine? or is it the crap we eat now depletes it?

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Sounds Very Promising

If it can be replicated...

[Celebration]

4. lots of studies on B1 and diabetes complications

Benfotiamine is actually a prescription drug in Germany.

We are talking about rather enormous doses of B1.

Also, this

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18663426?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Oral benfotiamine plus alpha-lipoic acid normalises complication-causing pathways in type 1 diabetes.Du X, Edelstein D, Brownlee M.
JDRF International Center for Diabetic Complications Research, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Morris Park Avenue F-531, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: We determined whether fixed doses of benfotiamine in combination with slow-release alpha-lipoic acid normalise markers of reactive oxygen species-induced pathways of complications in humans. METHODS: Male participants with and without type 1 diabetes were studied in the General Clinical Research Centre of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Glycaemic status was assessed by measuring baseline values of three different indicators of hyperglycaemia. Intracellular AGE formation, hexosamine pathway activity and prostacyclin synthase activity were measured initially, and after 2 and 4 weeks of treatment. RESULTS: In the nine participants with type 1 diabetes, treatment had no effect on any of the three indicators used to assess hyperglycaemia. However, treatment with benfotiamine plus alpha-lipoic acid completely normalised increased AGE formation, reduced increased monocyte hexosamine-modified proteins by 40% and normalised the 70% decrease in prostacyclin synthase activity from 1,709 +/- 586 pg/ml 6-keto-prostaglandin F(1alpha) to 4,696 +/- 533 pg/ml. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: These results show that the previously demonstrated beneficial effects of these agents on complication-causing pathways in rodent models of diabetic complications also occur in humans with type 1 diabetes.

Edited to add this--

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18220605?ordinalpos=13&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Both thiamine and Benfotiamine produced other remarkable effects in experimental diabetes: marked reversals of increased diuresis and glucosuria without change in glycemic status. High dose thiamine also corrected dyslipidemia in experimental diabetes - normalizing cholesterol and triglycerides. Dysfunction of beta-cells and impaired glucose tolerance in thiamine deficiency and suggestion of a link of impaired glucose tolerance with dietary thiamine indicates that thiamine therapy may have a future role in prevention of type 2 diabetes. More immediately, given the emerging multiple benefits of thiamine repletion, even mild thiamine deficiency in diabetes should be avoided and thiamine supplementation to high dose should be considered as adjunct nutritional therapy to prevent dyslipidemia and the development of vascular complications in clinical diabetes.

[European Socialist]

3. I was just about to do a post asking about Benofotamine

which provides thiamine and relieves diabetic neuropathy. Has Anyone tried it?

[Celebration]

5. well, the mods probably would have locked that thread

based on past experience here.