Posted on 05/20/2023 6:45:02 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Canadian researchers have identified a new role for vitamin K and gamma-carboxylation in beta cells and their potentially protective role in diabetes.
The study explains, at least in part, how vitamin K helps prevent diabetes, and could lead to new therapeutic applications for type 2 diabetes.
Vitamin K is a micronutrient known for its role in blood clotting, in particular in gamma-carboxylation, an enzymatic reaction essential to the process. It has been suspected for several years that this vitamin, and thus gamma-carboxylation, may have other functions as well.
Several studies suggest a link between a reduced intake of vitamin K and an increased risk of diabetes.
In their study, Mathieu Ferron and his team were first able to determine that the enzymes involved in gamma-carboxylation and therefore in the use of vitamin K were present in large quantities in pancreatic beta cells, the very cells that produce the precious insulin that controls blood sugar levels.
"Diabetes is known to be caused by a reduction in the number of beta cells or by their inability to produce enough insulin, hence our keen interest in this novel finding," said Ferron, a leading researcher in molecular biology. "In order to elucidate the cellular mechanism by which vitamin K maintains beta cell function, it was essential to determine which protein was targeted by gamma-carboxylation in these cells."
"We were able to identify a new gamma-carboxylated protein called ERGP," added Julie Lacombe, who conducted the work in Ferron's laboratory. "Our study shows that this protein plays an important role in maintaining physiological levels of calcium in beta cells in order to prevent a disturbance of insulin secretion. Finally, we show that vitamin K through gamma-carboxylation is essential for ERGP to perform its role."
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Are you getting enough? You may not know until your pancreas becomes dysfunctional.
Green leafy vegetables such as kale, collard greens, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, and lettuce.
I miss the time where bread was good for you and no one knew what kale was...
Need fat along with the greens. May still need to supplement.
CM; Thanks for posting!
I take 100mcg daily. Hope that’s enough.
https://www.realsimple.com/health/nutrition-diet/are-brussels-sprouts-good-for-you
I wish my nickname was Vitamin K. It sounds so cool.
Thank you!
From now on, you shall be known as
“Vitamin K”!
Is MK-2 or MK-7 better?
Thanks for the information.
Here are some more sources of vitamin K.
For those with artificial heart valves that is not good news. I have been on warfarin for the last 33 years. Vitamin K is an enemy unless my INR is too high.
For this, it may not matter, but we take a combo K1/K2-MK4/K2-MK7 supplement.
K2-MK-7 hangs around for days, while the others are only for up to 4-6 hours.
Decades ago, we received needed vitamins and minerals from root vegetables and greens grown in family gardens. Now, food is grown in such sterilized soil and then further sterilized with washing and preserving-chemicals, that we no longer receive those natural minerals. Could that have something to do with the low levels of minerals in so many people?
And here I thought vitamin K was just another word for potassium. :)
Thanks!
.
We take it everyday with D3.
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