Research appearing in the journal Diabetologia (2009 Feb;52(2):208-12) looked at thiamin supplementation in relation to kidney function in diabetics. Microalbuminuria is an early lab finding that indicates a potential problem with the kidneys. It means that small amounts of protein is getting into the urine. Researchers randomly divided 40 type 2 diabetics with microalbuminuria into two groups. For a three month period, one group received 100 mg. of thiamin, three times each day. The other group received a placebo. On average, the group receiving the thiamin had a 41% decrease in urinary albumin compared to the placebo group.