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‘Vitamin B1 reverses kidney disease’

* Researchers show 300mg of thiamine taken daily for three months reduces albumin excretion rate in type 2 diabetics

Staff Report

LAHORE: British researchers in collaboration with Pakistani researchers have discovered that high doses of thiamine - Vitamin B1 - can reverse the onset of early diabetic kidney disease.

According to a press release issued by the Punjab University (PU) on Sunday, diabetic nephropathy (a kidney disease) develops progressively in patients with type 2 diabetes. Early development of the disease is assessed by a high excretion rate of the protein albumin from the body in the urine. Researchers at the University of Warwick (UK) led by Dr Naila Rabbani and researchers from Sheikh Zayed Hospital and the PU School of Biological Sciences led by Dr Saadia S Alam and Prof M Waheed Akhtar have discovered that taking high oral doses of thiamine can dramatically decrease the excretion of albumin and reverse the early stage kidney disease in type 2 diabetes patients.

Reduction: In a paper published in the journal Diabetologia on Sunday, the team showed 300 milligramme of thiamine taken orally daily for three months reduced the rate of albumin excretion in type 2 diabetes patients. The albumin excretion rate was decreased by 41 percent from the value at the start of the study. The results also showed 35 percent of microalbuminuria patients experiencing a normal urinary albumin excretion after thiamine treatment. Forty type 2 diabetics aged between 35 and 65 years took part in the trial. They were randomly assigned a placebo or a dose of 300mg of thiamine daily for three months. The Warwick research group has previously proven that type 2 diabetics have a thiamine deficiency. In an earlier study led by Prof Thornalley at the Warwick Medical School, researchers showed that thiamine deficiency could be key to a range of vascular problems for diabetics.

Dr Naila, who holds a research fellowship with the British Heart Foundation, said: “This study once again highlights the importance of Vitamin B1 and we need to increase awareness of it.”

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