Health Update: Delaying diabetes

PEOPLE at risk of developing diabetes may delay onset of the disease by taking supplements of Vitamin B, doctors claim. A large controlled trial to test the effects of giving high doses of the B-group vitamin nicotinamide has just started. Patients who have relatives with insulin-dependent diabetes, who are therefore at greater risk of the disorder, are being sought to take part. Professor Edwin Gale, of St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, hopes that there will be a delay in onset in around a third to a half of all patients.