The Relationship Between Micronutrients And Chronic Complications Of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background and ObjectiveA number of factors such as abnormal levels of micronutrients are involved in the development of diabetes itself and its chronic complications. To provide useful information for diabetic nutrition management and the prevention and treatment of diabetic chronic complications, our study was designed to detect the levels of some micronutrients (including trace elements selenium, chromium and vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin E). The relationship was evaluated between diabetic chronic complications and the micronutrients above.MethodsFifty type 2 diabetes patients were involved in our study. All of them met the diabetes diagnostic requirements of 1999 WHO, excluding the following conditions:①gestational diabetes,②secondary diabetes, digestive system diseases which can lead to intestinal malabsorption,④recently taking therapeutic dose of vitamin A,B6,E and/or trace elements and/or antioxidant health products in last 3 months,⑤patients with cancer or chronic wasting disease,⑥thyroid dysfunction, renal dysfunction (excluding diabetic nephropathy),⑧blood disease (excluding diabetic complication),⑨other unsuitable conditions judged by the researchers. All patients completed the quality of life questionnaires at the same time. To whom met the inclusion criteria, the levels of micronutrients above were detected, t test, Rank sum test, and 2×2 cross-classified data Chi-square test were used to assess the relationship between micronutrients and diabetic chronic complications respectively. Risk factors of diabetic chronic complications were estimated by logistic regression analysis.ResultsLow levels of vitamin B6 and chromium were found in all patients, low level of vitamin E was found in 49(98%) patients, low level of selenium was found in 38(76%) patients, and low level of vitamin A was found in 21(42%) patients. Logistic regression analysis showed that patients with lower selenium levels had a higher risk(41.776 times) of macrovascular disease compared to the patients with normal level of selenium, and patients with lower vitamin A levels had a higher risk(4.058 times) of DR compared to the patients with normal levels of vitamin A.ConclusionsLower level of chromium, VitB6 and VitE were common in type 2 diabetes patients; Lower level of VitA was closely related to DR, and lower level of selenium was related to diabetic macrovascular disease.