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Abstract

According to hypothesis that the lower level of bioactive thiamine, vitamin B1, is partially responsible for microvascular complications in type 2 diabetes patients (T2DM), we investigated whether the supplementation with benfothiamine and alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) could improve cardiac autonomic neuropathy (CAN) in those patients. Heart rate variability (HRV) was used as a tool for the assessment of equilibrium in the activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in the control of heart rate in T2DM patients, without serious co-morbidity. Blood samples for glucose, HbA1c, triglycerides, cholesterol, and HDL-C were obtained before and at the end of treatment. High-frequency ln (HFln), was significantly lower (p< 0.01) and low- frequency/ high frequency ln (LF/HFln) was significantly higher (p<0.01) in T2DM. After 12 weeks of supplementation, very low-frequency ln (VLFln), HFln and LF/HFln indices were changed significantly (p=0.03; p=0.01; p=0.04, respectively), and we concluded that benfothiamine associated with ALA could participate in repairing cardiac autonomic dysfunction in T2DM.