Water Soluble Vitamins and their Role in Diabetes and its Complications

Molecular Mechanisms of Vitamin E in Ocular Neurodegenerative Disorders: An Update on the Emerging Evidence and Therapeutic Implications

Vitamin E is renowned for its potent antioxidant properties, crucial for shielding cells against oxidative stress and damage. Deficiency in this vitamin can lead to various health issues, including neurodegenerative diseases, due to its pivotal role in preserving cell membrane integrity and combating cellular oxidative damage. While its importance for overall health, including neurodegeneration, is acknowledged, the specific correlation between vitamin E deficiency and distinct ocular neurodegenerative disorders need to be further explored. This review delves into the molecular mechanisms of vitamin E in ocular neurodegenerative disorders; diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts, and emphasising the therapeutic implications drawn from existing evidence. Relationship between vitamin E and ocular neurodegenerative disorders is widely researched on, with its primary protective mechanisms attributed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. However, studies on the supplementation of vitamin E among human subjects present mixed results, suggesting its complexities and variability depending on factors such as the specific disorder, disease stage, genetic differences, and form of vitamin E utilized. In conclusion, while vitamin E holds promise in mitigating ocular neurodegeneration through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, its supplementation's efficacy remains nuanced and context dependent. More research works are essential to elucidate its precise role and therapeutic potential in combating various ocular neurodegenerative disorders.

Oxidative balance score as a useful predictive marker for new-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus in Korean adults aged 60 years or older: The Korean Genome and Epidemiologic Study-Health Examination (KoGES-HEXA) cohort

BACKGROUND

The oxidative balance score (OBS) is a comprehensive pro- and anti-oxidative marker for assessing the risk of various metabolic diseases and cancers. However, it is not well established whether OBS is related to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), particularly in elderly populations. Therefore, our objective was to investigate the longitudinal effect of OBS on T2DM in a large cohort of Korean adults aged 60 years and older.

METHODS

We assessed the data for 3516 participants aged 60 years and older without diabetes mellitus from the Health Examinees cohort of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study. We classified the participants into three groups according to OBS tertiles. We prospectively assessed hazard ratios (HRs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for new-onset T2DM using multivariable Cox proportional-hazard regression models during the mean 3.5 years following the baseline survey.

RESULTS

A total of 109 participants (3.1 %) developed T2DM during a mean follow-up of 3.5 years. The incidence rates per 1000 person-years were 11.73 for the lowest OBS tertile (T1), 8.19 for the second tertile (T2), and 6.23 for the highest tertile (T3). Adjusting for all confounding factors, compared with the referent T1, the HR (95 % CI) of new-onset T2DM was not significant in T2 (0.71 [0.47-1.07]) but was significant in T3 at (0.47 [0.30-0.75]) (p for trend = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS

The study suggests that a OBS could serve as a valuable predictive marker for new-onset T2DM in older adults. Our study suggests that maintaining an appropriate body weight through healthy lifestyle modification has the potential to lower T2DM incidence in elderly. This implies that the OBS may be a useful tool for assessing the incidence of T2DM even in older individuals.

Effect of High-Sucrose Diet on the Occurrence and Progression of Diabetic Retinopathy and Dietary Modification Strategies

As the most serious of the many worse new pathological changes caused by diabetes, there are many risk factors for the occurrence and development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). They mainly include hyperglycemia, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and so on. Among them, hyperglycemia is the most critical cause, and plays a vital role in the pathological changes of DR. High-sucrose diets (HSDs) lead to elevated blood glucose levels in vivo, which, through oxidative stress, inflammation, the production of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), cause plenty of pathological damages to the retina and ultimately bring about loss of vision. The existing therapies for DR primarily target the terminal stage of the disease, when irreversible visual impairment has appeared. Therefore, early prevention is particularly critical. The early prevention of DR-related vision loss requires adjustments to dietary habits, mainly by reducing sugar intake. This article primarily discusses the risk factors, pathophysiological processes and molecular mechanisms associated with the development of DR caused by HSDs. It aims to raise awareness of the crucial role of diet in the occurrence and progression of DR, promote timely changes in dietary habits, prevent vision loss and improve the quality of life. The aim is to make people aware of the importance of diet in the occurrence and progression of DR. According to the dietary modification strategies that we give, patients can change their poor eating habits in a timely manner to avoid theoretically avoidable retinopathy and obtain an excellent prognosis.

Attenuation of albumin glycation and oxidative stress by minerals and vitamins: An in vitro perspective of dual-purpose therapy

Nonenzymatic glycation of proteins is accelerated in the context of elevated blood sugar levels in diabetes. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are strongly linked to the onset and progression of diabetes. The antiglycation ability of various water- and fat-soluble vitamins, along with trace minerals like molybdenum (Mo), manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), chromium, etc., have been screened using Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as in vitro model. BSA was incubated with methylglyoxal (MGO) at 37 °C for 48 h, along with minerals and vitamins separately, along with controls and aminoguanidine (AG) as a standard to compare the efficacy of the minerals and vitamins. Further, their effects on renal cells' (HEK-293) antioxidant potential were examined. Antiglycation potential is measured by monitoring protein glycation markers, structural and functional modifications. Some minerals, Mo, Mn, and Mg, demonstrated comparable inhibition of protein-bound carbonyl content and ß-amyloid aggregation at maximal physiological concentrations. Mo and Mg protected the thiol group and free amino acids and preserved the antioxidant potential. Vitamin E, D, B1 and B3 revealed significant glycation inhibition and improved antioxidant potential in HEK-293 cells as assessed by estimating lipid peroxidation, SOD and glyoxalase activity. These results emphasize the glycation inhibitory potential of vitamins and minerals, indicating the use of these micronutrients in the prospect of the therapeutic outlook for diabetes management.

Translational Research on Bee Pollen as a Source of Nutrients: A Scoping Review from Bench to Real World

The emphasis on healthy nutrition is gaining a forefront place in current biomedical sciences. Nutritional deficiencies and imbalances have been widely demonstrated to be involved in the genesis and development of many world-scale public health burdens, such as metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. In recent years, bee pollen is emerging as a scientifically validated candidate, which can help diminish conditions through nutritional interventions. This matrix is being extensively studied, and has proven to be a very rich and well-balanced nutrient pool. In this work, we reviewed the available evidence on the interest in bee pollen as a nutrient source. We mainly focused on bee pollen richness in nutrients and its possible roles in the main pathophysiological processes that are directly linked to nutritional imbalances. This scoping review analyzed scientific works published in the last four years, focusing on the clearest inferences and perspectives to translate cumulated experimental and preclinical evidence into clinically relevant insights. The promising uses of bee pollen for malnutrition, digestive health, metabolic disorders, and other bioactivities which could be helpful to readjust homeostasis (as it is also true in the case of anti-inflammatory or anti-oxidant needs), as well as the benefits on cardiovascular diseases, were identified. The current knowledge gaps were identified, along with the practical challenges that hinder the establishment and fructification of these uses. A complete data collection made with a major range of botanical species allows more robust clinical information.

Water-Soluble Vitamins Status in Patients Undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis

The concentration of water-soluble vitamins (except folic acid and vitamin B12) is not routinely measured, which may lead to undiagnosed deficiencies among hemodialysis (HD) patients. The aim of the study was to assess the blood concentration of water-soluble vitamins in HD patients in comparison with healthy subjects and to assess the impact of diabetes mellitus (DM) coexistence on the concentration of these vitamins. The two-center study included 142 HD patients and a control group of 31 healthy subjects. Vitamins concentration was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Vitamin B1, B6, and B12 levels were significantly lower in the HD group than in the control group (p < 0.001). Vitamin B1 and B2 were negatively correlated with blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels before HD (R = −0.39, R = −0.38; p < 0.05). Vitamin B3, B12, and C were positively correlated with the albumin concentration (R = 0.26, R = 0.27, R = 0.28; p < 0.05). Among diabetic patients, only the concentration of vitamin B1 was lower than among non-diabetic patients. The concentration of water-soluble vitamins may be related to the adequacy of dialysis, the time of laboratory determination since the last dialysis, diet, coexistence of other diseases, use of drugs, and dietary supplements in individual patients.

The Association between Maternal B Vitamins in Early Pregnancy and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background: This study evaluated the association between maternal B vitamins in early pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk. Methods: A cohort of 1265 pregnant women was recruited at 8−15 weeks of gestation in 2021−2022 (Shanghai, China). Pregnancies with both serum B vitamin measurements at recruitment and glucose measurements at 24−28 weeks of gestation were included in the final analysis. Results: Of the 1065 pregnancies, in the final analysis, GDM occurred in 121 women (11.36%). In multivariate logistic models, an increased risk trend across serum vitamin B1 quartiles with GDM was observed (p-Trend = 0.001). Compared with women in the lowest quartile of serum vitamin B6, those in the upper two quartiles had approximately twofold higher odds of GDM. Moreover, compared with women with vitamin B12 levels < 150 pmol/L, those with vitamin B12 levels > 150 pmol/L had lower odds of GDM (p = 0.005). The restricted cubic spline regression models also revealed that serum vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 were associated with an increased risk of GDM in a nonlinear fashion. Conclusions: Our study shows that higher maternal serum vitamin B1 and B6 levels in early pregnancy are associated with increased GDM risk, while sufficient vitamin B12 status is associated with lower GDM risk.

Vitamin B6 rescues insulin resistance and glucose-induced DNA damage caused by reduced activity of Drosophila PI3K

The insulin signaling pathway controls cell growth and metabolism, thus its deregulation is associated with both cancer and diabetes. Phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K) contributes to the cascade of phosphorylation events occurring in the insulin pathway by activating the protein kinase B (PKB/AKT), which phosphorylates several substrates, including those involved in glucose uptake and storage. PI3K inactivating mutations are associated with insulin resistance while activating mutations are identified in human cancers. Here we show that RNAi‐induced depletion of the Drosophila PI3K catalytic subunit (Dp110) results in diabetic phenotypes such as hyperglycemia, body size reduction, and decreased glycogen content. Interestingly, we found that hyperglycemia produces chromosome aberrations (CABs) triggered by the accumulation of advanced glycation end‐products and reactive oxygen species. Rearing PI3K^RNAi flies in a medium supplemented with pyridoxal 5′‐phosphate (PLP; the catalytically active form of vitamin B6) rescues DNA damage while, in contrast, treating PI3K^RNAi larvae with the PLP inhibitor 4‐deoxypyridoxine strongly enhances CAB frequency. Interestingly, PLP supplementation rescues also diabetic phenotypes. Taken together, our results provide a strong link between impaired PI3K activity and genomic instability, a crucial relationship that needs to be monitored not only in diabetes due to impaired insulin signaling but also in cancer therapies based on PI3K inhibitors. In addition, our findings confirm the notion that vitamin B6 is a good natural remedy to counteract insulin resistance and its complications.

Relationship between Habitual Intake of Vitamins and New-Onset Prediabetes/Diabetes after Acute Pancreatitis

Vitamins have many established roles in human health. However, the role of habitual dietary intake of vitamins in glucose homeostasis in individuals after acute pancreatitis (AP) is yet to be elucidated. The aim was to investigate the associations between habitual intake of fat- and water-soluble vitamins/vitamers and markers of glucose metabolism (fasting plasma glucose (FPG), homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index, and homeostasis model assessment β-cell function (HOMA-β)) in individuals after AP. A total of 106 participants after AP were included in this cross-sectional study and were grouped based on glycaemic status: new-onset prediabetes/diabetes after AP (NODAP), pre-existing prediabetes/type 2 diabetes (T2DM), and normoglycaemia after AP (NAP). Habitual intake of seven fat-soluble vitamins/vitamers and seven water-soluble vitamins were determined by the EPIC-Norfolk food frequency questionnaire. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted using five statistical models built to adjust for covariates (age, sex, daily energy intake, visceral/subcutaneous fat volume ratio, smoking status, daily alcohol intake, aetiology of AP, number of AP episodes, cholecystectomy, and use of antidiabetic medications). In the NODAP group, three fat-soluble vitamins/vitamers (α-carotene, β-carotene, and total carotene) were significantly associated with HOMA-β. One water-soluble vitamin (vitamin B3) was also significantly associated with HOMA-β in the NODAP group. None of the studied vitamins were significantly associated with FPG or HOMA-IR in the NODAP group. Prospective longitudinal studies and randomised controlled trials are now warranted to investigate if the observed associations between vitamin/vitamer intake and NODAP are causal and to unveil the specific mechanisms underlying their involvement with NODAP.

Integrated Nutritional Supports for Diabetic Patients During COVID-19 Infection: A Comprehensive Review

BACKGROUND

Diabetes mellitus is an endocrine metabolic disorder, which affects the major organs in human and comorbid with others. Besides, diabetic patients are more prone to various infectious diseases as well as COVID-19 sporadic infection which is a high risk for patients with diabetes mellitus. To combat these infections and comorbid situations, an integrated balanced nutritional supportive could help in maintaining sound health and increase immunity for prevention and management of such type of viral infections.

OBJECTIVES

While information regarding nutritional supports in COVID-19 pandemic in diabetic patients is not available, this review aimed to accumulate the evidence from previous publications where studied about nutrition-based supports or interventions for viral diseases with special emphasis on respiratory infections.

METHODS

For reviewing, searches are done for getting journal articles into Google Scholar, Pub Med/Medline, Database of Open Access Journal and Science Direct for relevant data and information.

RESULTS

Integrated nutritional supports of both macronutrients and micronutrients guidelines, including home-based physical exercise schedule, is summarized in this comprehensive review for possible prevention and management of diabetic patients in COVID-19 infections. The immuneboosting benefits of some vitamins, trace elements, nutraceuticals and probiotics in viral infections of diabetic patients are also included.

CONCLUSION

There is an urgent need for a healthy diet and integrated nutritional supports with home-based physical activities for diabetic patients during the self-isolation period of COVID-19 Infection.

The Association between Daily Total Dietary Nutrient Intake and Recent Glycemic Control States of Non-Pregnant Adults 20+ Years Old from NHANES 1999-2018 (Except for 2003-2004)

Background: Although daily total dietary nutrient intakes were potentially important factors in maintaining glycemic balance, their overall effect on glycemic control was still unclear among American adults. Objectives: We aimed to examine the association between daily total dietary nutrient intake and recent glycemic control status (RGCS). Methods: This cohort was composed of 41,302 individuals from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The daily total intake of dietary nutrients and RGCS were independent and dependent variables, respectively. To evaluate their association, we carried out binary logistic regression, model fitting, linear discriminant analysis, and the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results: The result of robust check model showed that only the daily total dietary vitamin B6 intake (adjusted OR = 0.848; 95% CI: 0.738, 0.973; p-value = 0.019) was significantly negatively correlated with RGCS. When daily total dietary vitamin B6 intake and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were used as independent variables and dependent variables, respectively, to fit the curves and lines, the established robust check model could distinguish American adults with different RGCS well. Moreover, the robust check model results of ROC analysis indicated that daily total dietary vitamin B6 intake might be a potential predictor for RGCS (AUC = 0.977; 95% CI: 0.974, 0.980; p-value < 0.001). Conclusions: This study showed that only daily total dietary vitamin B6 intake was a beneficial factor in RGCS, but it might need further multicenter or prospective studies to verify whether vitamin B6 had biological implications and public health meaning for glycemic control among American adults (specifically referred to non-pregnant participants over 20 years old).

Alpha-lipoic acid and vitamin B complex slow down the changes in mice diabetic cardiomyopathy

Aim: The aim of our study was to assess histologically and by cardiac ultrasound the effects of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) and vitamin B complex, as pathogenic therapies, in diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) in mice. Materials and Methods: We performed an experimental animal study, in which we analyzed from a structural and functional point of view the changes produced in DCM. To produce DCM, we induced diabetes mellitus (DM) in C57BL/6 mice by intraperitoneal injection of a single 150 mg/kg body weight dose of streptozotocin (STZ). We formed a sham group (animals without DM), a control group (animals with DM but without treatment, DM_Control) and a group of animals with DM that were treated with ALA and vitamin B complex (DM_Treated). Results: At six weeks after STZ administration, there was no decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in the sham group, while in the control group there was a significant decrease in LVEF, about 43.75±3.37%, compared to the group that received treatment with ALA and vitamin B complex, in which LVEF decreased to 49.6±5.02% (p=0.0432). Also, the degree of interstitial myocardial fibrosis was higher in animals with DM compared to animals without DM, but the applied therapeutic protocol considerably improved the accumulation of interstitial collagen. The same observation was maintained regarding the evaluation of polysaccharide deposits. Conclusions: We can say that the administration of ALA and vitamin B complex in mice with STZ-induced DM, improves the degree of myocardial fibrosis, the accumulation of polysaccharides, and prevents severe deterioration of systolic and diastolic function of the heart.

Nutritional and medical food therapies for diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a form of microangiopathy. Reducing oxidative stress in the mitochondria and cell membranes decreases ischemic injury and end-organ damage to the retina. New approaches are needed, which reduce the risk and improve the outcomes of DR while complementing current therapeutic approaches. Homocysteine (Hcy) elevation and oxidative stress are potential therapeutic targets in DR. Common genetic polymorphisms such as those of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), increase Hcy and DR risk and severity. Patients with DR have high incidences of deficiencies of crucial vitamins, minerals, and related compounds, which also lead to elevation of Hcy and oxidative stress. Addressing the effects of the MTHFR polymorphism and addressing comorbid deficiencies and insufficiencies reduce the impact and severity of the disease. This approach provides safe and simple strategies that support conventional care and improve outcomes. Suboptimal vitamin co-factor availability also impairs the release of neurotrophic and neuroprotective growth factors. Collectively, this accounts for variability in presentation and response of DR to conventional therapy. Fortunately, there are straightforward recommendations for addressing these issues and supporting traditional treatment plans. We have reviewed the literature for nutritional interventions that support conventional therapies to reduce disease risk and severity. Optimal combinations of vitamins B1, B2, B6, L-methylfolate, methylcobalamin (B12), C, D, natural vitamin E complex, lutein, zeaxanthin, alpha-lipoic acid, and n-acetylcysteine are identified for protecting the retina and choroid. Certain medical foods have been successfully used as therapy for retinopathy. Recommendations based on this review and our clinical experience are developed for clinicians to use to support conventional therapy for DR. DR from both type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have similar retinal findings and responses to nutritional therapies.