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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
