WARNING FOR THOSE TAKING HIGH DOSE VITAMIN B WHO HAVE DIABETES WITH KIDNEY DISEASE IN AN EFFORT TO FORESTALL HEART ATTACKS, SHOULD STOP TA KING THEM IMMEDIATELY. By Billy E-advocate for an evolutionary lifestyle.
Andrew A. House M.D., of the University of Western Ontario, and J. David Spence M.D. of the Roberts Research Institute, London, Ontario, and colleagues conducted a study to determine whether B vitamins would slow the progression of diabetic neuropathy.
They organized a clinical trial in which researchers hoped to demonstrate a benefit from the supplement.
It is thought that at least 40 percent of the at least 21 million Americans and 3 million Canadians who is believed to have either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes will develop diabetic nephropathy in which the function of the kidneys is impaired.
Diabetics have above normal levels of the amino acid homocysteine in their blood. Too much of it is related to a higher risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease (fatty deposits in the peripheral arteries)
Canadian researchers reported this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association that those taking high doses of B vitamins should stop taking them.
The researchers said that rather than reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke, the vitamins appear to actually increase it. This was discovered after a study in which 238 diabetic at 5 Canadian medical centers were enrolled.
Half received a daily dose of 2.5 milligrams of folic acid, 25 milligrams of vitamin B6 and 1 milligram of vitamin B12 and half received a placebo.
It was found that those taking the vitamins had a significantly higher decrease in kidney function, as measured by the ability to filter toxic wastes from the blood stream.
The researchers noted that the vitamins are normally excreted in urine and speculated that kidney damage produced by the diabetes led to a toxic buildup of the supplement in the patients.
Anecdotally speaking, as compared to the study dosing, I personally take low dose B Vitamins which are included in multi vitamin supplements, and they do not seem to be a problem.
It would appear that the elimination of B vitamins would now require a different way to reduce homocysteine levels. Your own doctor should make this determination for you.
In my opinion, a different way already exists, and it is the only safe way to reduce homocysteine levels. It is to maintain an evolutionary lifestyle; that is how our ancient ancestors kept their homeostatic balance throughout the last 2.5 million years.
Because I am an evolutionary lifestyle advocate, I had already come to this conclusion, but, I confirmed it by discussing it with Dr. T. He agrees that this method is the simple and safe way to reduce homocysteine blood levels.
By eating as our ancient evolutionary ancestors did, you would naturally ingest the necessary vitamins. Eat about 500 grams of low carbohydrate non starch vegetables along with folic acid rich meats which contain B6 and B12.
This is a good example demonstrating where traditional medicine is perplexed, and cant see the forest for the trees, while looking for another way to treat a medical problem. That is the beauty of Dr. Ts out of the box medical practice.
He reaches back to the tried and true methods of our ancient ancestors. It worked for them for the last 2.5 million years, and it will continue to work for us.
The conclusion of the within study which recommends that one eliminate the use of B vitamins, because of this, supplementation with Trimethylglycine (Betain) might do the job, as it is known to reduces blood levels of homocysteine.
As a precaution, because, we are all different, you should use this method only under the supervision of your doctor.
An interesting and controversial study called NORVIT, first presented at the congress of European Society of Cardiology; September 5, 2005 also impacted the use of B vitamins. According to this study B vitamins appeared to deteriorate prognosis after heart infarct.
Journal Reference:
Andrew A. House; Misha Eliasziw; Daniel C. Cattran; David N. Churchil; Matthew J Oliver;
Adrian Fine; George K Dresser; J. David Spence, Effect of B-Vitamin Therapy on progression of diabetic nephropathy: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 2010; 303 (16): 1603-1609 (link)
PMID: 20424250 (PubMed indexed for MEDLINE
ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 2010, from
http://2010/04/100427171752.htm
N Engl J Med. 2006 Apr 13;354(15):1578-88. Epub 2006 Mar 12.
Homocysteine lowering and cardiovascular events after acute myocardial infarction.
Bonaa KH, Njolstad L, Ueland PM, Schirmer H, Tverdal A, Steigen T, Wang H, Nordrehaug JE, Arnesen E, Rasmussen K; NORVIT Trial investigators.
Billy E-advocate for an evolutionary lifestyle
Posted by Dr. T at 10:35 AM Labels: Billy E
