Vitamin K May Help Blood Sugar Health

by | Apr 27, 2013 | 2012, Blood Sugar, Diabetes, Vitamin K, Vitamins

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Vitamin K1 intake was shown to be 9.5% lower in diabetic patients and that every 100 microgram per day intake of vitamin K1 decreased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 17%. 

Vitamin K is most well-known for its role in blood clotting. It is a fat-soluble vitamin (meaning the body can store it in fatty tissue) and is also made by the bacteria that line your small and large intestines (1).

Vitamin K comes in 2 forms: vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and vitamin K2 (menaquinone). Phylloquinone is predominantly in leafy green vegetables and certain vegetable oils, whereas menaquinone is in animal products such as poultry, meat, egg yolk, and cheese (5). Now a new study (6) suggests that vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) may help blood sugar health in type 2 diabetics.

In the study, 1065 non-diabetic men (ages 55 to 80) and women (ages 60 to 80) participating in the Prevention with the Mediterranean Diet trial (7) provided dietary information by completing a 137-item food questionnaire (8). They also had annual physicals for an average of 5.5 years.  None of the patients had cardiovascular disease, but they met at least one of the following criteria:

  • Type 2 diabetes
  • More than 3 of the following heart disease risk factors: smoking, hypertension , dyslipidemia, obesity, or a family history of CHD

Diabetes was diagnosed in the patients according to the American Diabetes Association criteria (9) of fasting  plasma glucose concentration >7.0 millimoles per Liter or a 2-hour plasma glucose concentration >11.1 mmol/L after a 75-gram oral glucose load measured during each annual examination.

Over the course of the 5.5 years of follow-up with the patients, 131 of the 1065 patients developed type 2 diabetes, with vitamin K1 intake shown to be 9.5% lower in the diabetic patients (285 vs. 312 micrograms per day). After adjusting for sex, age, Body Mass Index, fasting glucose concentrations at start of the study, total calorie intake, and smoking, the researchers found that every 100 microgram per day intake of vitamin K1 decreased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 17% (p = 0.017).

What’s more,the researchers found that the subjects that increased their intake of phylloquinone had a 51% reduced risk of diabetesduring the follow-up compared to subjects who decreased or did not change their intake. Unfortunately, the researchers did not give a specific increase in vitamin K1 to produce the reduced risk of diabetes. The researchers did not provide other risk reduction data other than the 51% decrease for those who increased phylloquinone intake and the 17% benefit in the high phylloquinone group.  More research needs to be done in this area.

While admitting that vitamin K1’s exact role in blood sugar health remain to be discovered, they point to research showing vitamin K1 to maintain a healthy level of inflammation related to insulin levels (10) and concluded that “dietary phylloquinone intake is associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.”

Source: Ibarrola-Jurado, Núria, et al. “Dietary phylloquinone intake and risk of type 2 diabetes in elderly subjects at high risk of cardiovascular disease.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 96.5 (2012): 1113-1118.

© 2012 American Society for Nutrition

Posted April 27, 2013.

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com

References:

  1. “Vitamin K” posted on the National Institutes of Health website
  2. Neogi T. Low vitamin K status is associated with osteoarthritis in the hand and knee. Pediatrics 2006; 54(4): 1255-1261
  3. Shea MK.  Vitamin K and Vitamin D Status: Associations with Inflammatory Markers in the FraminghamOffspring Study. American Journal of Epidemiology 167 no3 313-20 F 1 2008
  4. McCann JC.  Vitamin K, an example of triage theory: is micronutrient inadequacy linked to diseases of aging?  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2009; 90(4):889-907
  5. Schurgers LJ, Vermeer C. Determination of phylloquinone and menaquinones in food. Effect of food matrix on circulating vitamin K concentrations. Haemostasis 2000;30:298–307
  6. Ibarrola-Jurado N.Dietary phylloquinone intake and risk of type 2 diabetes in elderly subjects a high risk of cardiovascular disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Nov;96(5):1113-8. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.111.033498. Epub 2012 Oct 3.
  7. Sakamoto N, Nishiike T, Iguchi H, Sakamoto K. Possible effects of one week vitamin K (menaquinone-4) tablets intake on glucose tolerance in healthy young male volunteers with different descarboxy prothrombin levels. Clin Nutr 2000;19:259–63.
  8. Martı´n-Moreno JM, Boyle P, Gorgojo L, Maisonneuve P, Ferna´ndez- Rodrı´guez JC, Salvini S, Willett WC. Development and validation of a food frequency questionnaire in spain. Int J Epidemiol 1993;22:512–9
  9. American Diabetes Association. Diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care 2010;33(suppl 1):S62–9.
  10. Ohsaki Y, Shirakawa H, Hiwatashi K, Furukawa Y, Mizutani T, Komai M. Vitamin K suppresses lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation in the rat. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 2006;70:926–32.