Читать книгу Orthomolecular Medicine for Everyone - Abram Hoffer M.D. Ph.D. - Страница 56

By keeping lipid levels normal, niacin should protect diabetics against the most dangerous chronic side effect, arteriosclerosis. But it may also have an effect on glucose levels in blood, on glucose tolerance, and on insulin requirements (either increased or decreased).

Researchers found that niacinamide given to young adult insulin-dependent diabetics produced a remission in some. They conducted a double-blind experiment with sixteen newly diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetics, 10–35 years old. One week after starting intensive insulin, the subjects were started on niacinamide or placebo (3,000 mg per day). If insulin was still required after six months, the vitamin was discontinued. Three of the treated group reached two-year remissions, while none of the placebo group were in remission longer than nine months. The researchers concluded that “in type I diabetes, niacinamide slows down destruction of B-cells (pancreatic cells that produce insulin) and enhances their regeneration, thus extending remission time.”²⁴

In an animal experiment, using nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice that had symptoms and histologic changes similar to those of human insulin-dependent diabetic patients, researchers examined the therapeutic effects of large-dose niacinamide administration. Eighteen NOD mice without glycosuria were randomly divided into two groups: nine received subcutaneous niacinamide (0.5 mg/g body weight) injections every day and the other nine were controls. After forty days, all of the mice given niacinamide showed almost normal glucose tolerance and only mild insulitis, while marked glycosuria and severe insulitis were observed in six of the nine control mice. Four of six NOD mice given niacinamide from the first day of marked glycosuria had the glycosuria disappear and showed improved glucose tolerance. The results indicated that niacinamide has preventive and therapeutic effects on diabetes in NOD mice, and suggest the reversibility of B-cell damage, at least in the early stages of diabetes.²⁵