China: Greater consumption of vitamin B6 and folate, but not of vitamin B12, is associated with low cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in type 2 diabetes patients, a recent study has revealed.
The findings, published in Karger’s Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, indicate that dietary vitamin B6 and folate are protective against CVD in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide. A common risk factor for CVD is type 2 diabetes (T2D), and T2D patients are at a 2- to 4-fold higher risk than the general population. Thus, exploring approaches to reduce the CVD risk among T2D patients is imperative.
Previous studies have shown that dietary one-carbon metabolism-related B vitamins, including vitamin B12, vitamin B6, and folate, are linked with a lower risk of CVD in the general population through their effects on homocysteine metabolism. However, studies assessing their associations in type 2 diabetes patients are lacking. Therefore, Shangling Wu, Department of Nutrition, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China, and colleagues aimed to assess the associations between the intake of three one-carbon metabolism-related B-vitamins (vitamin B6, folate, and vitamin B12) and CVD risk in Chinese T2D patients.
For this purpose, the researchers conducted a hospital-based case-control study of 419 T2D patients and newly diagnosed CVD and 419 age- (±5 years) and sex-matched T2D-only controls in China. During face-to-face interviews, dietary B-vitamin intake was measured using a validated 79-item semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. The mean age of the cases was 62.1 years, and that of the controls was 62.1 years.
The study led to the following findings:
“The study showed that high folate and vitamin B6 intakes, but not vitamin B12, are associated with a low CVD risk in T2D patients,” the researchers wrote in their study. “These findings provide preliminary evidence for the feasibility of a dietary program for CVD prevention in type 2 diabetes patients; however, there is a need for confirming such evidence by further studies.”
Reference:
The study, “Dietary Folate, Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12 and Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases among Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes: a Case-Control Study,” was published in Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1159/000527529
Medha Baranwal joined Medical Dialogues as an Editor in 2018 for Speciality Medical Dialogues. She covers several medical specialties including Cardiac Sciences, Dentistry, Diabetes and Endo, Diagnostics, ENT, Gastroenterology, Neurosciences, and Radiology. She has completed her Bachelors in Biomedical Sciences from DU and then pursued Masters in Biotechnology from Amity University. She has a working experience of 5 years in the field of medical research writing, scientific writing, content writing, and content management. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751
Editorial
Journal Club Today
Health News Today