This is the most exciting post I’ve done here at Blogging Diabetes because of the promise that these two supplements may hold for people with diabetes.  When I visited my Endocrinologist in late December, he told be about these two supplements and the clinical trial that was recently done.  The way he explained it was, during clinical trials (humans with type 1 diabetes) the use of these two supplements “…greatly reduced, if not eliminated, hyperglycemia-induced damage”. The findings of the clinical trial were published in Diabetologia in October 2008.  The abstract can be found here. 

In layperson’s terms, these two supplements could block the negative effects (4 pathways) that one experiences due to high blood sugars (hyperglycemia).  Reread that sentence again…seriously.  Here are the two supplements that were used:

Supplements

1) Benfotiamine (my doctor pronounces it as: ben-fo-tee-a-mean) is a lipid-soluble form of vitamin B-1.

“Benfotiamine is a man-made form of thiamine or B1. Thiamine is a water-soluble vitamin and therefore not as easily used by the body. Benfotiamine is a fat-soluble composition and is better absorbed and utilized. There has been some evidence that Benfotiamine may help relieve the severity of diabetic complications such as retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy.” [source]

Wikipedia – Benfotiamine

Cost $23 for a 3 month supply

2) Glucotize

“Glucotize™ is a-lipoic acid, a powerful antioxidant, delivered in a proprietary controlled release formulation developed by Medical Research Institute (MRI; San Bruno, CA). The controlled release formulation was developed by MRI to significantly extend the amount of time a-lipoic acid is present in human plasma. This enables a-lipoic acid to achieve its maximum physiological benefits.” [source]

Cost $54 for a 3 month supply

UPDATE – 1/13/2009 – I just spoke to the company MRI (Medical Research Institute) who made Glucotize.  They told me it is now being manufactured under the name Minus-10 and can be found at your local GNC or online here.

Clinical Trial Lead

The lead in the clinical trial was Dr. Michael Brownlee who is a member of the JDRF International Center of Diabetic Complications Research and holds these positions at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in NY:

• Professor, Department of Medicine (Endocrinology)
• Professor, Department of Pathology
• Anita and Jack Saltz Professor of Diabetes Research

Limitations

Now there were some limitations to the study.  First was the sample size.  The trial was only done on around 10 individuals.  So there’s no telling if the same results will be replicated on a much larger scale.  Also, they don’t know if the dose size was effective or if even both supplements were necessary.  There are some unknowns, but the immediate findings are very positive!

The bad news with supplements and preventative medicine is that in many cases you will never know.  For example, lets say you take these supplements and live until your 80 with minor complications.  You would never know if by not taking them you would have cut-out around 75 with more severe complications.  Maybe, with time, they will be able to test more to determine the effectiveness of taking these supplements.

Recommendation

Don’t take any medication or supplements without the authorization from your doctor.  My advice is to at least talk to your doctor to get their thoughts regarding this trial and supplements.

Other Reading

American Diabetes Association Award Recipient, Dr. Michael Brownlee

JDRF press release about funding the trial

Have you heard anything about Benfotiamine or Glucotize from your Doctor?  If you are interested in this and want to discuss offline, please contact me.

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