ORLANDO — A plant-based diet may help relieve diabetic nerve pain, according to a randomized trial presented here.
In the 15-patient DINE study, patients with type 2 diabetes and diabetic neuropathy who were randomized to a vegan diet and B12 supplementation had greater improvement in pain scores than those who only took the vitamin, according to Anne Bunner, PhD, and Caroline Trapp, MSN, of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
They reported their findings at the American Association of Diabetes Educators meeting here.
“Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is underdiagnosed, partially because there’s not a whole lot for physicians to offer these patients,” Bunner said. “We wanted to know if in the setting of a randomized controlled trial a low-fat vegan diet can make a difference in diabetic neuropathy pain.”
Bunner noted that current treatments for diabetic neuropathy — which occurs in about half of all type 2 diabetes patients — only treat the pain, and do not treat the underlying cause of that pain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keep CURRENT and up to date, with MS News and Information
Sign-up for emails
.
WATCH OUR MS EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS by Topic,
found here: www.youtube.com/msviewsandnews
.
Visit our MS Learning Channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/msviewsandnews