Assessment of vitamin B6 status in Korean patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes

The purpose of this study was to assess vitamin B₆ intake and status in Korean patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Sixty-four patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and 8-11% glycated hemoglobin (A1C), along with 28 age-matched non-diabetic subjects, participated. Dietary vitamin B₆ intake was estimated by the 24 hour recall method and plasma pyridoxal 5''-phosphate (PLP) was measured. There was a significant difference in daily total calorie intake between the diabetic and non-diabetic groups (1,917 ± 376 vs 2,093 ± 311 kcal). There were no differences in intake of total vitamin B₆ (2.51 ± 0.91 vs 2.53 ± 0.81 mg/d) or vitamin B₆/1,000 kcal (1.31 ± 0.42 vs 1.20 ± 0.32 mg) between the diabetic and non-diabetic groups, andI intakes of total vitamin B₆ were above the Korean RDA in both groups (180.0 ± 57.9 vs 179.0 ± 65.4). There was a higher percentage of diabetic subjects whose plasma PLP concentration was < 30 nmol/L compared to non-diabetic group. Plasma PLP levels tended to be lower in the diabetic subjects than in the non-diabetic subjects, although the difference was not statistically significant due to a large standard deviation (80.0 ± 61.2 nmol/L vs 68.2 ± 38.5 nmol/L). Nevertheless, plasma PLP levels should be monitored in pre-diabetic patients with diabetic risk factors as well as in newly diagnosed diabetic patients for long-term management of diabetes, even though this factor is not a major risk factor that contributes to the development of degenerative complications in certain patients.