Abstract
Painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) is a serious and very common complication of
diabetes mellitus (DM). It negatively affects the quality of life, increases
morbidity and poses a financial burden on the health care system. Currently,
treatment of PDN focuses on glycaemic control, while pathogenesis-oriented
therapy has not yielded satisfactory results. The need to improve therapy
remains. There is accumulating evidence on the potential benefit of nutritional
interventions. This narrative review aims to examine the potential benefit of
dietary and nutritional supplementation for PDN management. According to the
preliminary research, supplementation with vitamin E, B-complex, omega-3 fatty
acids, CoQ10 or N-acetylcysteine seems to be associated with promising results
in improving PDN symptoms.
Key words
diabetes mellitus - diet - nutrition - painful diabetic neuropathy - supplement