Is this simple nutrient a silver bullet against diabetes?
Have experts found a simple, drug-free way to prevent — and even treat — type 2 diabetes?
A group of international researchers recently uncovered something that doesn’t involve the usual type 2 suspects — obesity and genetics. Instead, it has to do with a simple vitamin — one that appears to have a direct connection to insulin production.
And the best part is, you can start taking advantage of this breakthrough right now by just making some easy additions to your diet!
It’s no secret that cases of type 2 diabetes are skyrocketing. But to make matters even worse, the numbers of kids being diagnosed with both type 1 and 2 are on the rise even more.
And that makes these new findings twice as important!
It all has to do with the complex world of human cells and something called “surface receptors.” Now, scientists know that all these cell receptors serve a particular purpose, but for many, we still don’t know what that purpose is. Those unknown ones are called “orphan receptors.”
And that was the case with beta cells in the pancreas, which are responsible for making and releasing insulin. The researchers found that these beta cells have “a large quantity” of receptors for vitamin A. And, at first, it was a big mystery as to why.
So, the research team, headed by scientists at Lund University Diabetes Center in Sweden, blocked those vitamin A receptors in mice, gave them sugar, and bingo! Their ability to produce insulin tanked by close to 30 percent.
Plus that, when beta cells were totally deficient in vitamin A, they started dying off — which is exactly what happens in those who suffer from type 1 diabetes.
This research follows on the heels of a study done by the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City two years ago — one that discovered, for the very first time, that these pancreatic beta cells are “exquisitely sensitive” to the effects of running low on vitamin A.
At the time, those Weill Cornell researchers believed the big question to be whether vitamin A can actually reverse the effects of diabetes.
Now, it appears we’re much closer to answering that than ever before.
Getting more vitamin A from your diet (the best way, since it is possible to take too much of certain vitamin A supplements) isn’t that difficult. There are actually two forms your body can use.
“Active” or “pre-formed” vitamin A comes from animal products such as beef liver, tuna, butter, and eggs. This is the kind your body can utilize right away. The second type is good old beta carotene (think carrots!) that your body needs to convert to “active” vitamin A. That comes from plant foods like sweet potatoes, kale, spinach and apricots, and, of course, carrots — basically orange or yellow fruits and veggies, as well as greens like spinach.
Unfortunately, vegetables have been slowly but surely losing a lot of their vitamins and minerals over the years, likely due to modern-day, large-scale farming practices. One study of nutrients that looked at 12 different fresh vegetables over a period of two decades found that calcium had declined by 27 percent, iron by 37 percent and vitamin A by 21 percent.
Researchers have discovered that, today, you’d have to eat eight oranges to get the same amount of vitamin A your parents or grandparents could get from one! So when you think about the results of this new study, it almost makes sense that diabetes has become so common these days.
What research has confirmed, however, is that you can get a bigger bang for your nutritional buck by choosing organic produce, which has been found to be generally higher in vitamins and minerals (such as A) than conventional or pesticide-sprayed crops.
“The role of vitamin A in diabetes” Lund University, June 13, 2017, ScienceDaily, sciencedaily.com
