The complications of diabetes can be both debilitating and costly, so discovering ways to help prevent the incidence of these adverse effects is critical. Much research shows a benefit from dietary intake of various nutrients combined with supplemental use of the corresponding nutraceutical, but in a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2004;79(5):865-873) the results were somewhat surprising. Researchers were examining whether patients with diabetes could reduce the incidence of diabetic complication, retinopathy, through their intake of dietary vitamins C and E. Diabetic retinopathy involves damage to the visual center of the eye, the result of high circulating glucose levels which cause glucose to attach to proteins, thereby altering their structure and producing damage to the retina that can lead to blindness.
Over 1300 subjects with type 2 diabetes were enrolled in the study. Dietary intake of vitamins C and E was assessed using food frequency questionnaires and supplement questionnaires, and the incidence of diabetic retinopathy was recorded. Over the course of the study, 224 cases of retinopathy caused by diabetes were reported. The unexpected result of their experiment was that only supplemental use of vitamins C and E or multivitamins for greater than 3 years reduced the risk of developing diabetic retinopathy. Both dietary intake of these vitamins alone and the combined intake of diet and supplements were not associated with reduced risk. The authors explain that long term use of these supplements may have a protective effect or there are other qualities about these individuals that use supplements long term that may reduce their risk. They indicate that their results warrant further study to evaluate the effects of long term supplemental vitamin C and E use.
Posted by Kristopher Foster on March 21, 2006 03:16 PM
