Folate, B6 could boost heart health for type-1 diabetics

“Effective intervention with an apparently safe, inexpensive adjunct such as folate or vitamin B6 at an early stage in childhood, in addition to optimisation of metabolic control, could have a major impact on long-term diabetic vascular complications,” wrote lead author Karen MacKenzie in the journal Pediatrics (Vol. 118, pp. 242-253).

This is the first time, say the researchers, that such a such benefits associated with these B vitamins have been reported.

The randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study recruited 122 children (average age 14) with type-1 diabetes and normal blood folate levels and assigned them to one of four experimental groups: Five milligrams of folate (Sigma Pharmaceuticals) and matched placebo; 100 milligrams vitamin B6 (Rhone-Poulenc-Rorer) and matched placebo; five mg folate plus 100 mg vitamin B6; two placebo tablets.

“We have shown for the first time that, among children with type-1 diabetes and normal folate status, both high-dose folate and high-dose vitamin B6 normalise endothelial function within two hours, an effect that is maintained over eight weeks with combined [supplementation] with high-dose folate and/or vitamin B6,” wrote the authors.

The mechanism behind the benefits of high-dose B vitamin supplementation may not be due to decreasing levels of the amino acid homocysteine, say the researchers. Homocysteine has been linked by epidemiological studies to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

MacKenzie and her co-workers propose that the B vitamins offer benefits independent of homocysteine levels, which may be due to antioxidant effects, and possibly a direct interaction with nitric oxide synthase which boosts nitric oxide production.

Since this study is the first to report such benefits, more randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies are required to confirm or refute these effects.