A type of light therapy involving infrared energy is no more effective than sham therapy for treating nerve damage, or neuropathy, in people with diabetes, according to a study reported in the medical journal Diabetes Care.

“Monochromatic infrared energy (MIRE) has been suggested to improve diabetic sensory neuropathy and even to prevent foot ulcers,” write Dr. Lawrence A. Lavery and colleagues from Texas A&M University Health and Science Center College of Medicine in Temple.

To investigate, they assigned 69 diabetic subjects with impaired vibration perception in their feet because of neuropathy to either active MIRE treatment or sham treatment, using the light units provided for 40 minutes every day at home for 90 days.

After that time, the researchers found that there were no significant differences between the active and sham treatment groups in measures of quality of life, vibration perception thresholds, or nerve conduction velocities.

“Overall, there was no statistical evidence that the anodyne treatment was effective in improving sensory perception compared with the sham treatment,” Lavery and colleagues report.

In fact, there was a large placebo effect, and people given the sham treatment saw as much or more improvement as those given the active MIRE treatment.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, February 2008.