B complex may protect against diabetic kidney disease

Reprinted with the kind permission of Life Extension.

October 3, 2018. On September 28, 2018, the 57th Annual European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology Meeting was the site of a presentation of the finding a protective effect for B vitamin supplementation on the kidney function of children with type 1 diabetes. Kidney disease is a complication associated with diabetes that can require long-term treatment if not detected early.

“Although the best strategy for treating diabetic kidney disease is prevention, for example through better blood glucose control and maintenance of healthy blood pressure, a normal lipid profile and a healthy body weight, the long-term duration of diabetes still increases the risk of developing kidney disease,” noted researcher Nancy Samir Elbarbary of Ain Shams University in Cairo. “So, these findings suggest vitamin B supplementation, in addition to traditional angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor therapy may be a simple, safe and cost-effective strategy for early protection of kidney function, which may improve the long-term quality of life for type-1 diabetes patients.”

In the current study, 80 type 1 diabetics between the ages of 12 and 18 years with early signs of diabetic kidney disease and deficient levels of vitamin B12 were given vitamin B complex supplements or no treatment for 12 weeks. At the study’s conclusion, children who received B complex exhibited improvement in blood markers of glucose regulation and kidney function.

“After 12 weeks of vitamin B complex supplementation in children and adolescents with diabetic kidney disease, we detected lower levels of markers that indicate poor kidney function, suggesting that it had a protective effect and could slow progression of the disease,” Dr Elbarbary reported. “These findings still need to be confirmed in larger, multi-center randomized trials to verify the role of vitamin B complex supplementation in treating early diabetic kidney disease over longer periods of time.”

—D Dye