Has anyone heard about this topic and the work of the Diabetic research unit at Warwick University?
75 % of diabetics being deficient in Vitamin B1 sounds like a lot to me!
Vitamin
B1
The Warwick researchers and others continue to work on using
Thiamine ie vitamin B1 as a supplement particularly in diabetic nepthropathy (kidney disease) . So for example they have conducted small trials on the use of thiamine supplementation and found a reduction in the amount of protein excreted in the urine and have continued to work on the possible mechanisms .
(I won't put in lots of links but you can check them out by looking up Naila Rabbani and Paul Thornalley)
However , I also found a a randomised, double blind trial conducted in the Netherlands using benfotiamine ( a synthetic derivative of thiamine (vitamin B1)). for 12 weeks that found no such improvement . They suggest that longer term trials might be necessary to find if it was effective.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2890365/
Other researchers have used thiamine ( particularly benfotiamine) for neuropathy. Again there are very mixed results . A Cochrane study in 2008 found
This review of 13 trials on diabetic and alcoholic peripheral neuropathy with a total of 741 participants showed only one study that suggested possible short-term benefit from eight-week treatment with benfotiamine (a derivative of vitamin B1) with slightly greater improvement in vibration perception threshold compared to placebo
A 2 year trial of benfotiamine found no benefit. 'Our findings suggest that high-dose benfotiamine (300 mg/day) supplementation over 24 months has no significant effects upon peripheral nerve function or soluble markers of inflammation in patients with type 1 diabetes'
They suggested that previous studies might have had an affect on symptom reduction rather than actual function. (I think that means pain, not sure)
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/conten ... l.pdf+html
There are lots and lots of trials so let's just say that whether vit B1 supplementation is beneficial or not is still being researched and debated.
HOWEVER :
the title of the thread is
Vitamin B Deficiency in Most Diabetics? and vit B is more than one vitamin.
This report on Medscape (2010) is of a trial of
high dose combined vitamin B6, B9 and B12 supplementation used in patients with advanced kidney disease. A deficiency in these vitamins is associated with raised homocysteine . Raised levels of this are asscociated with various conditions (including heart disease). The supplementation did achieve the expected lowering of homocysteine but there was also an unexpected accelerated decline in renal function and an increased number of vascular disease events.
The results are commented upon here by Thornalley and Rabbani (the Warwick researchers) who discuss the possible reasons and warn against lumping all B vitamins together.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/731177
Finally, clear discrimination of treatment with vitamin B6, B9 and B12 from other B-vitamins in titles, headlines, presentations and press releases, as well as in text of scientific reports, is required for clarity. 'B-vitamin therapy' is a catch-all, convenient phrase for a report title but can be misleading and lead to unnecessary concern in patients taking other B-vitamin supplements and in their carers. Of course, not all B-vitamins are the same.
(and indeed there are people for who need to supplement the vitamins used above: for example in anaemia some people require Vit B12 and diabetic women who wish to conceive are told to take vit B9 (folic acid) )
For what the various B vits do and what foods contain them see http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vitamins-m ... min-B.aspx
