Open AccessAntioxidants and diabetes
Author(s) -
Sarita Bajaj,
Afreen Khan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
indian journal of endocrinology and metabolism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.456
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 2230-9500
pISSN - 2230-8210
DOI - 10.4103/2230-8210.104057
Subject(s) - medicine , antioxidant , vitamin c , diabetes mellitus , oxidative stress , lipoic acid , radical , ascorbic acid , vitamin e , ingestion , pharmacology , endogeny , bioinformatics , endocrinology , biochemistry , food science , chemistry , biology
Hyperglycemia promotes auto-oxidation of glucose to form free radicals. The generation of free radicals beyond the scavenging abilities of endogenous antioxidant defenses results in macro- and microvascular dysfunction. Antioxidants such as N-acetylcysteine, vitamin C and α-lipoic acid are effective in reducing diabetic complications, indicating that it may be beneficial either by ingestion of natural antioxidants or through dietary supplementation. However, while antioxidants are proving essential tools in the investigation of oxidant stress-related diabetic pathologies and despite the obvious potential merit of a replacement style therapy, the safety and efficacy of antioxidant supplementation in any future treatment, remains to be established.