Vitamins are essential nutrients your body needs to function properly. Some vitamins may also have positive and negative effects on your risk for developing glucose intolerance. This condition can, in turn, heighten your chances for developing diabetes. Because of its seriousness, you should discuss taking any dietary supplement even vitamins, with your doctor if you have glucose intolerance.
Understanding Glucose Intolerance
Glucose intolerance is basically prediabetes. Your blood sugar levels remain high, but below levels that confirm a diagnosis of diabetes. If your blood glucose levels are elevated, it places stress on your kidneys, which can lead to kidney disease. The same test used to diagnosis diabetes is used to detect glucose intolerance. This condition often has no noticeable symptoms warranting a blood test. If your doctor does order a test, you can't eat or drink anything after midnight before the test. A blood sample is drawn, after which you consume a glucose solution. Your blood is then rechecked every 30 to 60 minutes to determine your blood sugar levels. The test takes up to three hours.
Niacin and Glucose Intolerance
If you are diagnosed with glucose intolerance, you should consult your doctor regarding any vitamins you take due to the possible effects they may have on your condition. Niacin, for example, can negatively impact your glucose tolerance. It can increase your blood sugar levels and possibly interfere with some diabetes medications, warns Medline Plus.
Vitamin E Effects
Some vitamins may have positive influences on glucose intolerance. Vitamin E helps your body use insulin, a hormone produced by your pancreas to lower blood sugar. It may also help prevent diabetes and improve an existing glucose intolerance condition. Vitamin E is also a powerful antioxidant that can help your body fight of the ill effects caused by free radicals, which are byproducts of metabolic reactions in the body -- and can also enter your body through exposure to environmental toxins. Vitamin E can help prevent the cellular damage free radicals may cause.
Vitamin D and Glucose Intolerance Risk
Deficiencies in some vitamins may increase your risk of developing glucose intolerance, and thus, diabetes. A study by the Human Diabetes and Metabolism Research Centre in the United Kingdom, published in the July 1998 issue of “Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice,” found that 20 to 50 percent of glucose-intolerant participants developed diabetes within 10 years. One risk factor may be vitamin D deficiency. A study by the Cellular Mechanisms Research Group in the United Kingdom, published in the March 1997 issue of “Diabetologia,” found that vitamin D deficiencies were a major risk factor for developing glucose intolerance. The vitamins you take, therefore, may help lessen your risk of developing this condition.
References
- American Diabetes Association: Prediabetes FAQs
- Medline Plus: Glucose Tolerance Test
- Diabetes.co.uk: Diabetes, Vitamins and Dietary Supplements
- Medline Plus: Niacin and Niacinamide (Vitamin B3)
- Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice;
- Diabetologia; Vitamin D, Glucose Tolerance and Insulinaemia in Elderly Men; K. Baynes, et al.
