Assessment of vitamin $B_6$ status in Korean patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes

The purpose of this study was to assess vitamin $B_6$ 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 $B_6$ 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 ($1,917{\pm}376$ vs $2,093{\pm}311\;kcal$). There were no differences in intake of total vitamin $B_6$ ($2.51{\pm}0.91$ vs $2.53{\pm}0.81\;mg/d$) or vitamin $B_6$/1,000 kcal ($1.31{\pm}0.42$ vs $1.20{\pm}0.32\;mg$) between the diabetic and non-diabetic groups, and I intakes of total vitamin $B_6$ were above the Korean RDA in both groups ($180.0{\pm}57.9$ vs $179.0{\pm}65.4$). 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 ($80.0{\pm}61.2\;nmol/L$ vs $68.2{\pm}38.5\;nmol/L$). 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.