Benfotiamine’s supplemental use has been shown to significantly decrease many of the unpleasant physical symptoms of diabetes such as burning, tingling, prickling, or loss of sensation in the feet and hands. Its use may also lessen or reverse the more serious diabetic complications which include deafness, loss of vision, high blood pressure and stroke. Due to its unique chemical actions, benfotiamine may also help repair and regenerate diabetes-induced damaged cells throughout the body[1]—including nerve cells in the extremities (neuropathy), and cells of the small capillaries of the eyes (retinopathy) and kidneys, thus restoring some function to these organs. It may also assist in resolving cardiac dysfunction by protecting the endothelial cells of the blood vessels. Benfotiamine also has been used in the treatment of alcohol-induced nerve damage.

Ironically, while the characteristic underproduction of insulin and/or the lack of cells’ sensitivity to it prevents glucose from entering many of the body’s trillions of cells of diabetics and pre-diabetics, excess glucose within the blood floods into blood vessel cells, causing significant damage to both the structure and function of cells. Benfotiamine accomplishes its beneficial effects by eliminating excess levels of potentially-damaging glucose metabolites (triose phosphates) from within the blood vessel cells. It accomplishes this cellular purging by increasing the activity of the enzyme transketolase by about 300%, allowing glucose to be processed through an alternate metabolic pathway, thereby normalizing glucose levels and metabolism within the affected cells.[2]

Interestingly, benfotiamine’s benefits are not the result of a drop in blood sugar levels—as measured by fasting plasma or HbA1c—but rather its unique ability to balance cellular glucose metabolism. Left unchecked, glucose-metabolic intermediates bind to, cross-link with, and damage surrounding protein molecules, including DNA. The glycation pathway to aging is therefore significantly ameliorated by the use of benfotiamine. Additionally, benfotiamine has been shown to block the activation of one of the first substances to be initiated in the escalating chain of the inflammatory response, nuclear factor kappa beta.[3]

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A recent German study evaluated benfotiamine’s effectiveness in reducing the harmful effects of food containing high amounts of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) produced from a meal cooked at high temperatures. Without the use of benfotiamine, the AGE-rich meal produced several harmful effects, including significantly reduced blood flow to the extremities; increased blood markers for cells lining the blood vessels; increases in oxidative stress; and increased levels of AGEs. Those who supplemented with benfotiamine were completely protected from these effects. These results further demonstrate benfotiamine’s use as a powerful tool in the battle against glycation, and suggest its use may be helpful in preventing peripheral vascular disease (PVD).[4]

It’s inspiring to know that when it comes to blood glucose levels—unlike dieting—a small decrease in the numbers produces very beneficial results. According to the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial which spanned the years 1983-1993, even a 2% decrease in blood glucose levels was associated with a 75% reduced risk of developing eye disease, a 60% risk reduction in nerve disease, and a 50% reduced risk of developing kidney disease.[5]

Recent studies show benfotiamine may be helpful in treating many neurological conditions including Alzheimer’s, Bell’s palsy, herpes simplex, Parkinson’s, sciatica, shingles, tinnitis, tooth hypersensitivity, and Tourette’s syndrome. Other ailments which may be beneficially affected are AIDS, end stage renal (kidney) disease, sleep disorders, and liver diseases including hepatitis. Benfotiamine is a safe compound having no known drug interactions or side-effects at treatment dosages. (The only possible precaution is its use in conjunction with the presence of tumorous cancers. There is a complicated chemical interaction that should be monitored.)

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