Some vitamins and minerals are capable of lowering blood sugar. The following article illustrates how vitamin B plays a valuable role in the treatment of diabetes.
All B group vitamins are water soluble vitamins. This means they are not stored in the body. They are required daily from the dietary source. There are 8 B vitamins.
These Vitamins should be taken in liberal quantities because they help to reduce blood cholesterol and fat. Diabetics have high urinary loss. Thereby they often have very small amounts of Vitamin B in their blood. Supplement of Vitamin B complex daily has shown remarkable improvement in patients.
Is Vitamin B1 Good For Diabetes?
Thiamine or Vitamin B1 is very valuable in the treatment of diabetes. Neuritis develops if the diabetic diet is inadequate in Vitamin B1. However, a large amount of this Vitamin relieves the condition soon. Vitamin B1 also prevents brain damage during diabetic acidosis. The requirement of Vitamin B1 increases along with the requirement of insulin.
The natural food sources of vitamin B1 are:
- Outer layers of rice, wheat and other whole grain.
- Cereals, pulses and legumes like soybeans, split green and Bengal gram, roasted peas, lentil and split red and black gram.
- Vegetables like lotus stem, dark green leafy vegetables, capsicum and turnip greens.
- Nuts and oil seeds like groundnuts, mustard, pistachio, cashew nuts and walnuts.
- Fruits like dried apricots, pineapple, banana, apple and musk melon.
- Cow’s milk and skimmed milk powder.
- Brewer’s yeast and wheat germ are other rich sources of Vitamin B1.
Vitamin B6 For Lowering Blood Sugar
When diet is insufficient in Vitamin B6, tryptophan (an amino acid) is converted into xanthurenic acid that damages the pancreatic tissues.
If fifty milligram of Vitamin B6 is given daily to a diabetic patient, there is a marked and rapid decrease in urinary xanthurenic acid. A continued daily dosage of ten to twenty milligrams shows total absence of urinary xanthurenic acid. Thereby diabetics can take Vitamin B6 in liberal quantities.
The main rich sources of Vitamin B6 are:
- Cereals like toasted wheat germ, brown rice and barley.
- Pulses and legumes like dry soybean, dry lentil and lima beans.
- Vegetables like spinach and other green leafy vegetables, cauliflower and carrot.
- Nuts and oil seeds like sunflower seeds and walnuts.
- Fruits like avocados and raisin.
- Milk and brewer’s yeast are other sources rich in Vitamin B6.