After 15 years of research, researchers at the University of Montreal have identified a new role for vitamin K that may help prevent diabetes.
Diabetes cannot be cured, but it can be prevented with the right combination of lifestyle and nutritional choices.
Diabetes develops when the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin, causing the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin to become depleted. Countries where diets are high in sugar, fat and processed foods have high rates of diabetes. Consumption of processed foods has also been linked to deficiencies in micronutrients such as vitamin K . Studies have also shown that around 40% of obese people are vitamin K deficient.
Vitamin K improves glucose metabolism, improves insulin sensitivity and reduces body fat.
A new discovery by scientists at the University of Montreal has shown how vitamin K may help prevent diabetes and points to new therapeutic applications for type 2 diabetes.
Vitamin K is a nutrient known to play an important role in blood clotting, specifically in gamma-carboxylation, an enzyme reaction necessary for this process. Several previous studies have linked low vitamin K intake to an increased risk of diabetes. Studies have also shown that vitamin K improves glucose metabolism, improves insulin sensitivity, and reduces body fat, all of which protect against type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
However, the biological mechanism by which vitamin K protects against diabetes has remained a mystery until now. In the study, Associate Professor Mathieu Ferron and colleagues first identified that vitamin K and gamma-carboxylation are also important for beta cells.
In a mouse model, they found that when gamma-carboxylation was not active in beta cells, the mice were unable to release adequate amounts of insulin. When human cells were exposed to glucose, gamma-carboxylase activity increased as insulin was released.
The researchers wanted to identify the proteins affected by gamma-carboxylation to explore how vitamin K maintains beta cell function. They identified a new gamma-carboxylated protein, called endoplasmic reticulum Gla protein (ERGP). This protein plays an important role in maintaining physiological calcium levels in beta cells to prevent insulin secretion disorders, and vitamin K through gamma-carboxylation is essential for ERGP to perform its role well. In addition, vitamin K also increases the level of adiponectin, a beneficial hormone that helps regulate sugar metabolism.
This is the first time in 15 years of research that a new vitamin K-dependent protein has been identified, opening up a new area of research in diabetes treatment.
