Nowadays, the high prevalence of type 2 diabetes may be due to both too much niacin in our foods and too little excretion through our sweat glands. The so-called gene-environment interaction in type 2 diabetes may actually be the outcome of the association of excess niacin intake and relatively low detoxification and excretion from the body, says lead author Dr. Shi-Sheng Zhou, Professor of the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences of Dalian University.

Historically, niacin deficiency was restricted mainly to those with poor nutrition who performed heavy industrial labor. Hence, this study gives rise to an important social and public health issue whether foods need to be fortified with niacin any more, when the people in developed countries have already been living in an age of over-nutrition. The authors found that reducing nicotinamide intake and facilitating the excretion of nicotinamide metabolites may be a useful preventive and therapeutic intervention in type 2 diabetes.

The peer reviewers stated that it is an interesting study with human and experimental data, which investigated a clinically relevant issue, and gave an insight into the pathogenic mechanisms involved.

Source: World Journal of Gastroenterology