Diabetes & Vitamins: Two Vitamins That All Diabetics Should Know About

Type II diabetes is one of the most prevalent diseases in the world today. Fortunately, it is also one of the most treatable. With weight loss, a healthy diet, and exercise, many people with Type II diabetes are able to maintain healthy blood sugar levels without medication.

That's good, because the stakes are high. Uncontrolled Type II diabetes can lead to a variety of serious health problems, like kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. But a new study suggests that vitamin supplementation may help prevent some of these problems, by addressing a known marker for these serious complications.

Mainstream knows what to look for - but can't do much about it
One out of three people with diabetes develop kidney disease in their lifetime. But if the warning signs are noted before kidney function is actually reduced, treatment may prevent further damage. And one of the most valuable markers of diabetics' kidney health is urinary albumin excretion rate (AER).

Albumin is a protein synthesised in the liver that works to transport various substances in the blood stream. When too much albumin is excreted in the urine, it's a strong sign that the kidneys are in trouble.

(It can also be a sign of complications from hypertension and other manifestations of cardiovascular disease, another common diabetic complication.) Unfortunately, mainstream medicine hasn't yet found a treatment approach that consistently reduces this important marker.

Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibiting drugs, which are used to lower blood pressure, have also been shown to lower the AER of some patients with Type II diabetes.

But, according to the new study in the journal Diabetic Medicine, they don't work for the majority of people. The authors of the study knew that vitamins C and E had shown kidney-protective effects in animal studies. So they recruited 29 participants (20 men and 9 women) and set out to track the vitamins' effects on humans.

Natural approach produces significant results - and no side effects
In this Danish study, researchers tracked the effect of vitamins C and E on the urinary albumin excretion rate (AER) of patients with Type II diabetes. The participants' average age was 58, and, on average, they had had Type II diabetes for 12 years.

And all had high AER levels. (AER can be reported in several different ways, but in this study they defined high levels as anywhere from 30 to 300 milligrams of albumin in 24 hour urine collection sample.) All but one of the participants were taking ACE inhibitors before they entered the study; they were all required to stop taking ACE inhibitors and/or vitamin supplements eight weeks before the study began.

The participants were divided into two groups, and assigned to take either 1,250 mg of vitamin C and 680 IU of vitamin E (d-alpha-tocopherol) each morning, or five matching placebo tablets.

This continued for four weeks; then the participants began a three-week washout period, and then 'crossed over.' (This means that the participants in the first placebo group then took vitamins C and E, and the participants that first took the vitamins then took placebo.) This continued for another four weeks.

In both phase I and phase II, urinary albumin excretion rates decreased significantly in the patients taking the vitamins (an average of 19%). And none of the participants reported any side effects from the treatment.

If you have Type II diabetes, chances are you're already keeping a close watch on your health. Now there may be another step you can take to protect your body from the ravages of this disease. The addition of these two basic nutrients to your regimen is a simple step that may give your body some added protection from the degenerative effects of Type II diabetes.