High Dose of Vitamin B Linked to Kidney Damage in Diabetics

Patients with diabetic nephropathy, kidney disease caused by diabetes and treated with high doses of vitamin B, suffered rapid deterioration of the kidneys, a recent study has found.

Diabetics in addition to kidney function loss also were affected by higher rates of heart attack and stroke than those who took a placebo, according to the clinical research in the April 28 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

About Vitamin B-12
Vitamin B-12 is also known as cobalamine or cyanocobalamine, owing to the presence of the metal, cobalt. Cyanocobalamine is used in most supplements because it is readily converted to active forms of vitamin B-12 in the body.

Diabetic nephropathy affects the network of tiny blood vessels in the glomerulus, a structure in the kidney made of capillary blood vessels, which is needed to filter blood.

Despite a range of treatments to curb the progression of the disease, about 40 percent of the 21 million Americans who have diabetes develop diabetic nephropathy so a new approach to treatment is needed, the authors of the study said.

Observational studies have shown a link between high concentrations of plasma total homocysteine and the risk of developing diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, and vascular diseases, including myocardial infarction and stroke.

Diabetes Risk Assessment Calculator
Almost one-third of the people are unaware of the risk factors of diabetes. Find out if you run the risk of diabetes by using Diabetes Risk Assessment calculator.

B-vitamin therapy meanwhile -- using folic acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 -- has been shown to lower the plasma concentration of homocysteine.

Andrew House of the University of Western Ontario and J. David Spence of the Robarts Research Institute in London, Ontario ran a study to see if B-vitamin therapy would slow progression of diabetic nephropathy and prevent vascular events in 238 patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes.

Quiz on Kidney
The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist, and are located just below the rib cage, one on each side of your spine.

Healthy kidneys filter about half a cup of blood every minute, removing wastes and extra water to make urine. The urine flows from the kidneys to the bladder through two thin tubes of muscle called ureters, one on each side of your bladder. The bladder stores urine. The kidneys, ureters, and bladder are partof the urinary tract.

kidneys remove wastes and extra fluid from your body. Kidneys also remove acid that is produced by the cells of your body and maintain a healthy balance of water, salts, and minerals-such as sodium, calcium, phosphorus and potassium-in your blood ().

Without this balance, nerves, muscles, and other tissues in the body may not work normally.

Kidneys also make hormones that help

Control your blood pressure
Make red blood cells
Keep your bones strong and healthy

The placebo-controlled trial was conducted at five university medical centers in Canada between May 2001 and July 2007.

Patients received single tablet of B vitamins with folic acid (2.5 mg/d), vitamin B6 (25 mg/d), and vitamin B12 (1 mg/d), or matching placebo.

After they were followed for an average of 31.9 months, researchers found patients treated with vitamin B had a faster rate of reduction of kidney filtering hence kidney function compared to those on a placebo course.

Patients with the diabetic nephropathy additionally had a higher rate of heart attack and stroke than patients who received placebo.

"In addition to the personal burden, the societal burden of diabetic nephropathy is enormous, exceeding US 10 billion dollars in annual medical expenditures," the authors stressed.

Source-AFP
SRM