Vitamin D supplementation is an effective treatment of neuropathic pain in Type 2 diabetes patients, new Australian research suggests

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Vitamin D reverses diabetic neuropathy

by Dr Calabresi

http://www.6minutes.com.au/articles/z1/view.asp?id=169945

Vitamin D supplementation is an effective treatment of neuropathic pain

in Type 2 diabetes patients, new Australian research suggests.

Previous research has found that vitamin D deficiency is common in

patients with Type 2 diabetes, but its effect on neuropathic pain has

not previously been tested, say study authors Drs Lee and

Chen from Concord Repatriation General Hospital.

Their study, published in today’s Archives of Internal Medicine

(168:771-772) involved 51 patients with Type 2 diabetes and typical

neuropathic pain. All patients were vitamin D deficient with a mean

serum 25D concentration of 18 ng/mL.

After three months, vitamin D repletion with cholecalciferol (vitamin

D3) tablets resulted in a significant reduction in pain scores using two

separate assessments, one suggesting the pain severity was reduced by

40% the other suggesting pain severity had been halved.

How vitamin D reduces the severity of diabetic neuropathic pain is

uncertain, but the researchers suggest that vitamin D insufficiency may

potentiate diabetic nerve damage and impair nociceptor function. The

results could not be explained by a decrease in parathyroid hormone as

testing did not show any statistically significant difference in hormone

level following the vitamin D repletion, they say.

Vitamin D is known to have a role in the prevention of osteoporosis. It

is also increasingly being recognised for its ability to improve

glycaemic control, the endocrinologist researchers said. In addition,

vitamin D repletion is free of adverse effects.

Therefore, the researchers said they would advocate a trial of vitamin

supplementation in vitamin D-deficient patients with neuropathic pain.

“It is unlikely to have any harmful effects and may offer not only pain

relief but also beneficial effects on bone health and glycaemic control.”

15 April 2008

Comment on this article

Latest Comments

* I would sincerely appreciate a reprint of this publication as I

am involved in scientific research of the evaluation of diabetic neuropathy.

Posted by Jefferson Katims, MD 17/04/2008 8:07:08 PM

* The possible explanation as to why Vitamin D ameliorates

neuropathic pain is its modulating action on Voltage Gated Calcium

Channels (?N channels)in Nervi Nervorum which are now thought to be

crucial in upregulating neurogenic inflammation causing peripheral

neuropathic pain (Zochodne,Calgary)

Posted by Lyftogt 1/05/2008 1:51:06 PM

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