Benfotiamine and Glucose Toxicity
Benfotiamine is effective as a nutrient for people trying to ward off the adverse effects of sustained high blood sugar levels. Chronic exposure to high blood glucose levels inevitably leads to cellular dysfunction and results in glucose toxicity and further in chronic oxidative stress. Glucose toxicity is a condition of high glucose concentration. It hampers the mechanisms counteracting the process by which high blood sugar level alters cell and tissue structure thus creating conditions favorable to the development of diabetes-related complications which in the long run can be fatal. In general, thiamine is necessary for the proper regulation of glucose metabolism in diabetes sufferers. Benforiamine as a synthetic derivative of thiamine (vitamin B1) addresses the effects of high blood glucose and normalizes glucose metabolism.
One of the foremost results of benfotiamine is in counteracting glucose toxicity effects on endothelial progenitor cells. The dysfunctions of these cells are thought to be involved in diabetes complications. This process can be stopped or slowed down by effective administration of benfotiamine.
The greatest effect attributed to benfotiamine in counteracting glucose toxicity is that it decreases not only high levels of plasma glucose, but also high levels of intracellular glucose and works out a proper biochemical response of the body to toxic breakdown products of excess sugar. Benfotiamine eventually conduces to the production of a beneficial enzyme that converts those dangerous end products into harmless compounds that do not accumulate in the body.
As it is seen from this short description, benfotiamine exerts multifaceted effects on a diabetes sufferer and can reverse a number of debilitating diabetic complications connected with a constantly elevated glucose level by blocking the biochemical pathways to the destruction of tissues and organs. The most important thing that should be highlighted is that benfotiamine helps to normalize blood sugar levels and consequently to cleanse the vessels thus protecting kidneys against oxidative stress and loss of their filtering capability preventing the development of retinopathy, relieving the condition of polyneuropathy, preserving endothelial function of the body and preventing oxidative stress damaging tissues in the brain.
Benfotiamine is, of course, not a panacea for diabetes and its devastating complications. But being just a diet supplement it has proved to be capable of ameliorating a diabetic's condition and smoothing over the negative effects of glucose toxicity.