Diabetes

Vitamin K Protects Against Diabetes, New Study Finds

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Vitamin K Protects Against Diabetes, New Study Finds
Vitamin K is found in meat, eggs, dairy, and leafy green vegetables. (Gargonia/Shutterstock)
Emma Suttie
By Emma Suttie, D.Ac, AP
6/30/2023
Updated:
6/30/2023
0:00
A recently published Canadian study has discovered the cellular process that allows vitamin K to protect against diabetes. The discovery opens up new ways to treat and prevent this growing epidemic that affects 415 million people worldwide.
Vitamin K helps with gamma-carboxylation, one of the countless biochemical processes that our cells carry out, turning one substance into another for various functions in the body. Gamma-carboxylation is important to many bodily functions; for example, it produces proteins used in bone formation and blood coagulation.

Researchers are not sure what other roles gamma-carboxylation plays in the body, but they do know that it requires vitamin K. They also know that the enzymes that facilitate this process are present in larger numbers in pancreatic beta cells.

These are the cells that produce insulin, which is a vital hormone that helps to get glucose out of the blood and into cells and tissues where the body can use it for energy. Diabetes arises when there are not enough of these beta cells or beta cells no longer produce enough insulin.

Researchers at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute discovered a new protein called ERGP, which needs vitamin K that has gone through gamma-carboxylation in order to work and is very important for diabetics.

“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,” Dr. Julie Lacombe, a researcher involved in the study, said in an article on the institute’s website.

Dr. Mathieu Ferron, an associate professor of medicine at the Université de Montréal, led the team that conducted the research.

“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,” Ferron said in the institute’s article. “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.”
The findings also support a link between gamma-carboxylation and the way beta cells adapt to stress. Researchers found that glucose regulates gamma-carboxylation activity and that treatment with vitamin K1 can protect beta cells from the harmful effects of high glucose and endoplasmic reticulum stress. The endoplasmic reticulum is a network of sac-like structures and membranous tubules in the cytoplasm of a cell.
The Canadian study builds upon previous research that implicated vitamin K deficiency in the development of diabetes, although the underlying mechanisms had been unclear until now.

Increased Dietary Vitamin K and Decreased Diabetes Risk

In a previous prospective cohort study published in 2010 in Diabetes Care, researchers investigated whether dietary intake of vitamin K1 and K2 were related to Type 2 diabetes risk.

The study involved 38,094 Dutch men and women aged 20–70 at the outset and followed up with them for more than 10 years.

The study, led by Dr. Joline W.J. Beulens of the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, found that those receiving the most vitamin K from their diets had an approximately 20 percent lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes during the decade the researchers followed up with them.

At the time, the findings were among the first to show a relationship between vitamin K intake and lower diabetes risk. Although they didn’t show vitamin K as the reason for the decreased risk, they laid a foundation for further study on whether vitamin K deficiency plays a role in the development of Type 2 diabetes.

In the study, higher intake of both vitamin K1 and K2 were associated with lower Type 2 diabetes risk, but the effect was more pronounced with vitamin K2.

The findings were based on questionnaires that participants completed, including a detailed dietary survey used to estimate vitamin K intake and questions about their overall health and lifestyle habits. The results were adjusted for other factors, such as weight, age, and level of physical activity.

They found that the quartile of participants with the highest intake of vitamin K2 were 20 percent less likely to be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes than the quartile of participants with the lowest intake of vitamin K2.

As for vitamin K1, researchers didn’t see a decrease in Type 2 diabetes risk until levels of the vitamin were relatively high. These findings were similar, though, in that the quartile of participants who received the most vitamin K1 were 19 percent less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than the quartile with the lowest levels.

Why We Need Vitamin K

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin and is best known for its vital role in blood clotting. Vitamin K comes in two biologically active forms, K1 (phylloquinone), found in plant foods such as leafy green vegetables, and K2 (menaquinone), found in meat, cheese, eggs, fermented foods, and the microbiome of your intestine—which is how the body processes some vitamin K2 naturally.
Vitamin K is vital for several functions in the body, such as blood clotting, bone formation, and heart health, and is essential in how the body uses calcium. Vitamin K helps control how much calcium is laid down to create strong bones while also limiting how much accumulates in arteries, which can contribute to atherosclerosis—a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and death. Some research suggests that vitamin K also has anticancer properties, and recent research found that a form of vitamin K acts as an antioxidant that may be a key in preventing Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions.
Recommended daily intake of vitamin K is 120 micrograms daily for men and 90 micrograms daily for women.
Below is a list of foods high in vitamin K.
  • Natto
  • Turnip greens
  • Collard greens
  • Swiss chard
  • Broccoli
  • Soybeans
  • Carrot juice
  • Edamame
  • Canned pumpkin
  • Pomegranate juice
  • Spinach
  • Kale
  • Dry roasted cashews
  • Okra
  • Beef liver
  • Chicken breast and liver
  • Goose liver pate
  • Egg yolks
  • Cheeses
  • Butter
  • Sauerkraut
  • Kefir
Natto, a fermented soy product traditionally eaten in Japan, tops the list with 850 micrograms (mcg) per 3-ounce serving. Natto also has an impressive list of health benefits, which you can read about in “Could an Enzyme in a Traditional Japanese Dish Hold the Key to Treating COVID–19?“

Very little vitamin K is stored in the body, so it’s vital that we get enough of this crucial vitamin in our diet so we do not become deficient. Without enough vitamin K, we become more susceptible to osteoporosis, heart disease, and bleeding disorders.

Thankfully, most people get enough vitamin K in the foods they eat, which is preferable to taking it in supplement form. For example, you can get 443 percent of the daily recommended amount by eating half a cup of cooked kale, 346 percent by eating half a cup of mustard greens, 121 percent by eating a cup of raw spinach, and 92 percent by eating half a cup of cooked broccoli.

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Emma Suttie
Emma Suttie
Author (D.Ac, AP)
Emma is an acupuncture physician and has written extensively about health for multiple publications over the past decade. She is now a health reporter for The Epoch Times, covering Eastern medicine, nutrition, trauma, and lifestyle medicine.
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