(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A leading researcher says diabetics who are using vitamin B therapy to stop kidney damage should change their treatment plan.

Dr. David Spence of the University of Western Ontario studied people with kidney disease, anticipating that those who received high dose vitamin B therapy would see improved kidney function and fewer heart attacks and stroke. However, the opposite was true. Those receiving the high dose vitamin B therapy had significantly worse kidney function and twice as many heart and stroke incidents.

“Because B vitamins are water soluble, we suspect that while healthy people would excrete excess vitamins in urine, those with renal failure would not be able to do so, perhaps causing the adverse affects we have seen in this study,” Spence was quoted as saying.

Dr. Spence says the Vitamin B therapy may still benefit people with normal kidney function.

Diabetic nephropathy is kidney disease or damage that is a complication of diabetes. Twenty-on million Americans have diabetes, and over 40 percent of people with diabetes will develop nephropathy.