We are not going to “Sugar Coat” the facts
Bone health is key to diabetes
- Vitamin K reduces the risk of developing diabetes.
- Diabetes affects at least 285 million people worldwide.
- Recent research indicates that bone functions as an endocrine organ, regulating energy metabolism.
- Osteocalcin, a bone protein, is one of the messengers between bone and the pancreas.
- Osteocalcin needs adequate amounts of vitamin K to be carboxylated and active.
- Carboxylated osteocalcin is required for the bone and pancreas to work in coordination.
- Insufficient vitamin K leads to insufficient carboxylated osteocalcin, which interferes with energy and glucose metabolism.
Proteins that depend on vitamin K to be functional and activated are of great interest. Osteocalcin is a vitamin K dependent protein. This page will review the story of osteocalcin and diabetes, detailing the story of how the bone protein osteocalcin became identified as a key regulator of energy and glucose in the body, and the growing body of research indicating that supplementation with vitamin K can delay, prevent, and/or mitigate the disease of diabetes. This is an exciting story that is still being written, but we think it is important to begin.
On this page, we will offer a brief description of diabetes, the discovery of bone as an endocrine organ, the relationship of bone to diabetes, the research linking osteocalcin levels to diabetes, and the critical importance of vitamin K to activate osteocalcin, improving the status of diabetes.
