Benfotiamine Benefits Diabetic Neuropathy

Foot pain, a complication of diabetes is due to nerve damage also called neuropathy. Neuropathy causes loss of sensations, feelings to pain, temperature and the ability to feel foot injuries. According to the America Diabetes Association, neuropathy may also cause skin changes, callouses, foot ulcers, and poor circulation leading to foot amputation. Benfotiamine, a synthetic form of vitamin B-1 made global headlines in 2003, when researchers of Einstein College of Medicine in New York, reported benfotiamine's positive effects on neuropathy, retinopathy and nephropathy in patients with diabetes, according to Diabetes.Healthierlinks.com.

Sources

Benfotiamine was invented by Japanese scientists. The Japanese entered a United States patent on benfotiamine in 1962. Thiamine or B1 is available in foods, such as barley, brown rice, red and pinto beans. It's in egg yolks, milk, fish and other sea foods, meats and poultry, as well as whole grains, wheat germ and sunflower seeds.

Effects

Benfotiamine helps foot pain by working to selectively block three of the four biochemical pathways that are the culprits responsible for the damaging effect on the blood vessels, the nerve tissues and increase the risk to conditions, such as heart disease, hypertension, kidney failure and stroke in patients with diabetes, according to Dr. Michael Brownlee of MedicalNewsToday.com.

Benefits

Benfotiamine is not only good for treating patients with foot pain due to diabetes; it is also beneficial for other conditions, such as high blood pressure, vascular problems and fibromyalgia. Benfotiamine also prevents lactic acidosis, protects cells and nerve tissues and has been used in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and conditions related to thiamine deficiency, according to Zachary B. Malott of NaturalHealthweb.com

Study

A study published in the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, by E. Haupt, et.al., reported on the efficacy of benfotiamine in 40 inpatients with diabetic polyneuropathy. In this study, 20 patients received two 50 mg benfotiamine tablets four times daily and 20 patients received placebo over the three-week study period. There were two clinical units with 10 patients receiving placebo and 10 patients receiving benfotiamine in each. The results of the study provided evidence of benfotiamine effects in patients with diabetic neuropathy and further substantiated the findings of two earlier randomized control trials on benfotiamine.

http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/foot-complications.html

http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/46660.php

http://www.benfotiamine.org/FAQ.htm#faq12

http://diabetes.healthierlinks.com/12729.php

http://www.naturalhealthweb.com/articles/Malott3.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15726875