Ironjustic
Mon, Feb-24-03, 16:59
This may not seem on topic right away .. but let me assure you
.. iron has been found to be closely related to hepatitis AND
diabetes .. and so these two articles might make one think
about .. thiamine.
The interesting thing about this study is that the drug is a
derivative of thiamine which has been shown to be an iron
binder and with the results found with iron chelators and the
recommendation of iron reduction for at least 40% of
diabetics .. ?
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Drug that blocks destructive pathways in diabetics
Asian News International The Hindustan Times Tuesday,
February 18, 2003
Washington, February 17 - Four biochemical pathways are
responsible for diabetes-induced injuries to blood vessels
- damage that makes diabetes the leading cause of
blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks and nontraumatic
amputation of legs.
Now, for the first time, researchers have shown in animal
studies that the drug benfotiamine can simultaneously block
three of the major biochemical pathways responsible for the
blood-vessel damage that causes serious diabetic
complications.
Dr Michael Brownlee of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
was the senior researcher for the international consortium
that carried out the study, which appears in the current issue
of Nature Medicine.
Benfotiamine is a synthetic derivative of thiamine (vitamin
B1) and has been available for more than a decade in Germany.
It is prescribed there for treating diabetic neuropathy,
sciatica and other painful nerve conditions but has never been
tested in placebo- controlled, double-blind clinical trials.
As reported in the Nature Medicine paper, benfotiamine
successfully blocked all three major destructive biochemical
pathways in experiments with arterial endothelial cells.
Next, the researchers treated diabetic rats with
benfotiamine and then examined their retinal tissue. (For
comparison, they also examined the retinas of control
diabetic rats and normal rats.)
Chemical analysis showed that all three biochemical pathways
had been "normalized" in the benfotiamine- treated diabetic
rats so that their retinas were biochemically identical to the
retinas of normal rats. The drug also prevented diabetic
retinopathy in the animals, since microscopic examination
revealed that the retinas of benfotiamine-treated diabetic
rats were free of vascular damage.
http://hindustantimes.com/news/181_168138,00040002.htm
Read the complete news at: http://www.hindustantimes.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
-----------------------------------
Dr. Amy Elizabeth Wallace decided to test thiamine for HBV
after a "very bright and aware patient" observed that his
aminotransferase levels rose and fell depending on
whether he was taking the vitamin. High levels of
aminotransferase enzymes indicate more active infection
of the liver. In reviewing his chart, Wallace found a
relationship--the patient's aminotransferase levels fell
when he took thiamine.
Wallace and her colleague, Dr. William Brinson Weeks,
conducted a trial in this patient and two others with
HBV infection to investigate the relationship. All had
either failed treatment with interferon or could not
tolerate the drug.
"While patients were on thiamine treatment, their
aminotransferase levels fell from abnormally high to normal
levels; these levels increased when thiamine was subsequently
withdrawn," Wallace and Weeks write in the March issue of The
American Journal of Gastroenterology. And in subsequent liver
biopsies after thiamine treatment, HBV DNA was undetectable.
This is the first study to investigate thiamine for treating
hepatitis B infection. There are several potential ways that
the vitamin might fight the infection, according to Wallace,
an assistant professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical
School in Hanover, New Hampshire.
For example, thiamine binds to iron and thus reduces the iron
load in the liver. Past studies have linked high iron levels
in the liver to more severe HBV infection, as well as a worse
response to interferon.
"Thiamine is so cheap, way cheaper than any of the treatments
that are on the market," Wallace said. And, she noted, the
vitamin has no side effects.
However, more research is clearly needed to determine if
thiamine does indeed help patients with HBV, Dr. Raymond S.
Koff, a professor in the division of digestive diseases and
nutrition at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in
Worcester, told Reuters Health.
"The very small number of patients studied is a major
limitation of this [study]," he said. "There is no information
about thiamine levels before, during or after treatment. A
prospective, randomized controlled trial in previously
interferon-untreated patients or in nonresponders to
interferon therapy will be needed to determine the utility of
thiamine in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B."
Link. http://www.healthcentral.com/news/newsfulltext.cfm?ID=5-
1428&src=n1
Who loves ya. Tom Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com Man Is A Herbivore!
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/manisaherbivore
.. iron has been found to be closely related to hepatitis AND
diabetes .. and so these two articles might make one think
about .. thiamine.
The interesting thing about this study is that the drug is a
derivative of thiamine which has been shown to be an iron
binder and with the results found with iron chelators and the
recommendation of iron reduction for at least 40% of
diabetics .. ?
--------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
-------------------------------------------
Drug that blocks destructive pathways in diabetics
Asian News International The Hindustan Times Tuesday,
February 18, 2003
Washington, February 17 - Four biochemical pathways are
responsible for diabetes-induced injuries to blood vessels
- damage that makes diabetes the leading cause of
blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks and nontraumatic
amputation of legs.
Now, for the first time, researchers have shown in animal
studies that the drug benfotiamine can simultaneously block
three of the major biochemical pathways responsible for the
blood-vessel damage that causes serious diabetic
complications.
Dr Michael Brownlee of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
was the senior researcher for the international consortium
that carried out the study, which appears in the current issue
of Nature Medicine.
Benfotiamine is a synthetic derivative of thiamine (vitamin
B1) and has been available for more than a decade in Germany.
It is prescribed there for treating diabetic neuropathy,
sciatica and other painful nerve conditions but has never been
tested in placebo- controlled, double-blind clinical trials.
As reported in the Nature Medicine paper, benfotiamine
successfully blocked all three major destructive biochemical
pathways in experiments with arterial endothelial cells.
Next, the researchers treated diabetic rats with
benfotiamine and then examined their retinal tissue. (For
comparison, they also examined the retinas of control
diabetic rats and normal rats.)
Chemical analysis showed that all three biochemical pathways
had been "normalized" in the benfotiamine- treated diabetic
rats so that their retinas were biochemically identical to the
retinas of normal rats. The drug also prevented diabetic
retinopathy in the animals, since microscopic examination
revealed that the retinas of benfotiamine-treated diabetic
rats were free of vascular damage.
http://hindustantimes.com/news/181_168138,00040002.htm
Read the complete news at: http://www.hindustantimes.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
-----------------------------------
Dr. Amy Elizabeth Wallace decided to test thiamine for HBV
after a "very bright and aware patient" observed that his
aminotransferase levels rose and fell depending on
whether he was taking the vitamin. High levels of
aminotransferase enzymes indicate more active infection
of the liver. In reviewing his chart, Wallace found a
relationship--the patient's aminotransferase levels fell
when he took thiamine.
Wallace and her colleague, Dr. William Brinson Weeks,
conducted a trial in this patient and two others with
HBV infection to investigate the relationship. All had
either failed treatment with interferon or could not
tolerate the drug.
"While patients were on thiamine treatment, their
aminotransferase levels fell from abnormally high to normal
levels; these levels increased when thiamine was subsequently
withdrawn," Wallace and Weeks write in the March issue of The
American Journal of Gastroenterology. And in subsequent liver
biopsies after thiamine treatment, HBV DNA was undetectable.
This is the first study to investigate thiamine for treating
hepatitis B infection. There are several potential ways that
the vitamin might fight the infection, according to Wallace,
an assistant professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical
School in Hanover, New Hampshire.
For example, thiamine binds to iron and thus reduces the iron
load in the liver. Past studies have linked high iron levels
in the liver to more severe HBV infection, as well as a worse
response to interferon.
"Thiamine is so cheap, way cheaper than any of the treatments
that are on the market," Wallace said. And, she noted, the
vitamin has no side effects.
However, more research is clearly needed to determine if
thiamine does indeed help patients with HBV, Dr. Raymond S.
Koff, a professor in the division of digestive diseases and
nutrition at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in
Worcester, told Reuters Health.
"The very small number of patients studied is a major
limitation of this [study]," he said. "There is no information
about thiamine levels before, during or after treatment. A
prospective, randomized controlled trial in previously
interferon-untreated patients or in nonresponders to
interferon therapy will be needed to determine the utility of
thiamine in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B."
Link. http://www.healthcentral.com/news/newsfulltext.cfm?ID=5-
1428&src=n1
Who loves ya. Tom Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com Man Is A Herbivore!
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/manisaherbivore