Vitamin D reverses diabetic neuropathy
by Dr Linda Calabresi
15 April 2008
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 Paul Lee and Roger 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.”
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