Riboflavin is no good another nutriceutical bites the dust?

Naghashpour M, Majdinasab N, Shakerinejad G, Kouchak M, Haghighizadeh MH, Jarvandi F, Hajinajaf S. Riboflavin Supplementation to Patients with Multiple Sclerosis does not Improve Disability Status nor is Riboflavin Supplementation Correlated to Homocysteine. Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2013 Oct 1;83(5):281-290

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Riboflavin is involved in myelin formation in nerve cells. Riboflavin is a precursor of flavin adenine D-nucleotide (FAD), which is a coenzyme of methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), which is an important enzyme for remethylation of homocysteine. Riboflavin supplementation has been shown to affect the serum levels of homocysteine in healthy volunteers. The aim of the present study was to test the effect of riboflavin supplementation on the status and disability of patients with MS and whether this effect could be mediated by serum homocysteine levels. 

Materials and Methods: This was a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial in which 29 MS patients with a mean age of 33 were tested with riboflavin, and the placebo group, with a mean age of 31, received either riboflavin supplementation (10 mg) or the placebo daily for six months. Disability, measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores, erythrocyte glutathione reductase activity coefficient (EGRAC), and serum homocysteine levels were measured before and after the study. 
Results: The mean ± SD of EDSS score was significantly decreased in both groups over the six months of the study (2.3 ± 0.7 vs. 1.6 ± 0.6 for the riboflavin group and 2.8 ± 1.1 vs. 2.3 ± 1.3 for the placebo groups. No significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of EGRAC, riboflavin deficiency levels by EGRAC category, and serum homocysteine levels before and after the study. Conclusion: Riboflavin supplementation (10 mg/day) to patients with MS does not improve disability status. It appears that this effect is not related to serum homocysteine levels.

So a trial of riboflavin (Vitamin B2) fails to find any difference. Do we conclude it is of no use...maybe..but again we question if this trial was big enough to tell us anything...I suspect not. So just as we have positive studies showing effect or trends of this or that nutriceutical, by chance we will have negative data also.  

I wish people would do studies big enough to tell us one way of another

Labels: