My mother was diabetic, I have hypoglycemia. I just started taking this stuff, I first noticed peripheral neuropathy when I was about 20 years old. The testimonials on the stuff is amazing for burning feet/neuropathy/eyesight. I am only on 150 mg, but I will increase...
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2005/feb2005_report_mitochon_02.htmBenfotiamine Tames Excess Blood Sugar
Until recently, physicians could do little to prevent the dire complications of chronic hyperglycemia. Fortunately, this situation is changing. Exciting research indicates that a nutritional supplement called benfotiamine can block three of the four major metabolic pathways leading to tissue damage. Although it was synthesized in a Japanese laboratory nearly 50 years ago, benfotiamine is only now gaining recognition as a powerful supplement capable of preventing destructive aging effects in the hyperglycemic and alcoholic populations.
Benfotiamine is a slightly altered form of vitamin B1 (thiamine). The alteration renders the vitamin fat soluble, enabling it to access areas of the body that water-soluble thiamine cannot penetrate. This is crucial for controlling potential hyperglycemia-induced damage. Although the problems associated with hyperglycemia are myriad, they all stem from the root problem of glucose flooding into vascular cells and overwhelming their metabolic machinery.
One of the body’s proteins, an enzyme called transketolase, blocks the absorption of too much glucose. To do its work, however, transketolase, like many enzymes, requires a co-factor. In this case, it needs assistance from thiamine. Unfortunately, thiamine is water soluble, which makes it less available to cells. Experiments have shown that transketolase’s effects are only marginally boosted by the addition of thiamine to cell cultures bathed in excess glucose.63
Used for more than a decade in Germany to successfully treat nerve pain in diabetics, benfotiamine is considerably more available to the body than thiamine. A landmark study, published recently in the medical journal Nature Medicine, found that benfotiamine increases transketolase activity in cell cultures by an astounding 300%. By comparison, when added to cell cultures, thiamine raises transketolase activity a mere 20%. Benfotiamine’s robust activation of transketolase was sufficient to block three of the four major metabolic pathways leading to blood vessel damage. Additionally, benfotiamine blocked activation of the pro-inflammatory transcription factor nuclear factor-kappa beta.63
Nuclear factor-kappa beta has been implicated in inflammation, tumor formation, and macular degeneration, as well as retinal disease in diabetics.64,65 It regulates cellular proliferation and suicide. Blocking nuclear factor-kappa beta has been shown to improve the prognosis of arthritis patients.66 These findings suggest still more benefits of benfotiamine therapy.
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http://www.mwt.net/~drbrewer/benfotiamine.htmhttp://www.benfotiamine.org/index.htm