Insulin+vitamin C = Less diabetes risk

OKLAHOMA CITY, June 10 (UPI) -- Combining vitamin C with insulin therapy may help prevent complications as a result of diabetes, U.S and British scientists say.

The University of Oklahoma and the University of Warwick scientists said their findings suggest anti-oxidant therapy may help diabetic patients whose sugar levels are under control.

The vitamin C in this study was administered into the blood stream at high doses. Similar results using over-the-counter supplements are unlikely, the researchers said.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, said even when sugar is under control cell "memory" may cause damage to continue. This damage -- known as endothelial dysfunction -- is associated with many of the serious complications of diabetes, but antioxidants may help erase this memory so cell functions normalize.

"We have speculated that this happens with endothelial dysfunction, but we did not know until now if it was effective in humans. We finally were able to test it and proved it to be true," Michael Ihnat of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Oklahoma City said in a statement.

"For patients with diabetes, this means simply getting their glucose under control is not enough. An anti-oxidant-based therapy combined with glucose control will give patients more of an advantage and lessen the chance of complications with diabetes."