Vitamin K's protective role against diabetes uncovered in new study.
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 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, and it has been suspected for several years that this vitamin may have other functions as well. The discovery is a welcome advance in the understanding of the mechanisms underlying diabetes, a disease that affects one in 11 people worldwide and has no cure.