ArticleActa diabetologica2021
Thiamine and diabetes: back to the future?
Article in Acta diabetologica, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- B Vitamins and Ocular Health.Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Thiamine transporter 2 and Janus kinase 2 inhibitor, fedratinib suppresses thermogenic activation of human neck area-derived adipocytes.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Article
- Genetic Variants of the Human Thiamine Transporter (International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Interlinking the Cross Talk on Branched Chain Amino Acids, Water Soluble Vitamins and Adipokines in the Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Etiology.Endocrine, metabolic & immune disorders drug targets · 2025Review
- What do we know about micronutrients in critically ill patients? A narrative review.JPEN. Journal of parenteral and enteral nutrition · 2025Review
- The Acari Hypothesis, VII: accounting for the comorbidity of allergy with other contemporary medical conditions, especially metabolic syndrome.Frontiers in allergy · 2025Article
- Thiamine as a putative natural modulator of PPARγ: exploring a nutrient-based approach for type 2 diabetes.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Exploring Structural and Molecular Features of Sciatic Nerve Lesions in Diabetic Neuropathy: Unveiling Pathogenic Pathways and Targets.Diabetes · 2025Article
- The Antioxidant Potential of Vitamins and Their Implication in Metabolic Abnormalities.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Correlation of Serum Sodium and Potassium With Thiamin Levels in Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetic Patients.Cureus · 2024Article
- Correlation of Fasting Blood Sugar and Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) With Thiamine Levels in Diabetic Patients.Cureus · 2023Article
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- Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The first reports of a link between thiamine and diabetes date back to the 1940s. Some years later, a role for thiamine deficiency in diabetic neuropathy became evident, and some pilot studies evaluated the putative effects of thiamine supplementation. However, the administration of thiamine and its lipophilic derivative benfotiamine for the treatment of this complication gained consensus only at the end of the '90 s. The first evidence of the beneficial effects of thiamine on microvascular cells involved in diabetic complications dates to 1996: from then on, several papers based on in vitro and animal models have addressed the potential use of this vitamin in counteracting diabetic microangiopathy. A few pilot studies in humans reported beneficial effects of thiamine administration on diabetic nephropathy, but, despite all promising proofs-of-concept, the possible role of thiamine in counteracting development or progression of retinopathy has not been addressed until now. Thiamine is a water-soluble vitamin, rapidly expelled from the body, with no issues of over-dosage or accumulation; unfortunately, it is non-patentable, and neither industry nor independent donors are interested in investing in large-scale randomized controlled clinical trials to investigate its potential in diabetes and its complications. Consequently, science will not be able to disprove a promising hypothesis and, more importantly, diabetic people remain deprived of a possible way to ameliorate their condition.
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Registered trials
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