Vegan Diet Improves Diabetic Neuropathy

Diabetic neuropathy is one of the most serious and frequent complications of diabetes: about 60% of type 2 diabetics suffer from it. In this complication of diabetes, the nerves become damaged, resulting in loss of nerve function. The effect is tingling, numbness, pain and muscle weakness. It can also lead to decreased heart function, bladder problems and erectile dysfunction.

A just released study suggests that dietary changes can improve this serious problem. . . .

In the first ever controlled study of diet and diabetic neuropathy, two groups of type 2 diabetics who were suffering from painful neuropathy were put on 1,000mcg of vitamin B12. B12 has been used with some success to treat diabetic neuropathy. One of the most common diabetes drugs, metformin, causes B12 deficiency and neuropathy (J Postgrad Med 2013;59:253-7). One of the two B12 groups made no dietary changes and the other followed a vegan diet.

The study lasted twenty weeks. By the end of the study, the neuropathy had improved significantly more in the vegan group. The improvement in pain was also significantly greater in the vegan group: pain only went down by .9 points in the control group, but by 9.1 points in the vegan group.

HbA1c is the best measure of diabetes and long term blood sugar control. HbA1c decreased significantly only in the vegan group. The vegan group also lost significantly more weight–which is often important in type 2 diabetes: they lost an average of 7kg over the twenty weeks while the conctrol group lost only .6kg.

It is interesting to note that the B12 alone also had a number of beneficial effects, so the vegan diet may have shown even greater comparative benefits if it had been compared to a true placebo.

This controlled study is the first to suggest that following a vegan diet can offer relief from the serious and intense pain of diabetes.

Nutrition & Diabetes (2015)5,e158;doi:10.1038/nutd2015.8