If you’ve read my main site, you know I’m pretty skeptical about most supplements. But an interesting study reported in the BBC today suggests that one supplement that has been flying under the radar for a while might actually be worth checking out.
The study found pervasive thiamine deficiency in people with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, which had been missed previously due to some technical issues with how thiamine had been tested for.
What’s interesting is that there’s been some good mainstream research published over the past few years which find that benfotiamine, a form of thiamine, blocks the damage of AGEs and may help with the pain of neuropathy and possibly delay or prevent microvascular damage.
All this is still very preliminary. I know people who take benfotiamine and none of them have cured their diabetes, but a couple of folks over on Dr. Bernstein’s Bulletin Board did say some months ago that it has them helped with their kidney problems–though they combine it with Dr. B’s very low carb diet that by normalizing blood sugars is also known to help with kidney problems, too.
The references to the actual journal research are at the bottom of my page on “Supplements for Diabetes” at http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/15877514.php Scroll down to the bottom or search for “benfotiamine.”
