B-group Vitamins Reduce Plasma Homocysteine Concentration in Patients with Type II Diabetes Mellitus and Normal Basal Homocysteine

Purpose: High total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) is an independent risk factor for premature cardiovascular disease/mortality in the general population. tHcy has not been well defined as a risk factor in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and, therefore, we sought to investigate tHcy and its response to B-group vitamins in patients with DM. Design: Randomized placebo-controlled intervention study. Patients and Methods: Thirty patients with type II DM, aged 60±10 years (range 42-77 years) were compared with 17 age-matched (range 45-69 years) normoglycaemic subjects. Thereafter, the patients were randomly assigned to either B vitamin (B6, folic acid and B12) (n=18) or placebo (n=12) groups for 4 weeks. tHcy was measured using an amino acid analyzer. Results: Compared with the normoglycaemic patients, there were no differences in respect to tHcy, B12, plasma and erythrocyte (RBC) folate in patients with DM. In the B vitamin treatment group, plasma and RBC folate increased from 9.3±4.1 and 395±188 ng ml−1 to 15.3±3.8 and 665±248 ng ml−1 (p