Our bones would protect us against diabetes and obesity
Heavy treatments, restrictive diets, side effects, many inconveniences occur when we suffer from diabetes or obesity. But if the solution to cure was not in a new treatment but simply in our body, in our bones more precisely?
This was discovered by Mathieu Ferron, professor and assistant researcher in the Department of Medicine at the Université de Montréal and his team, in collaboration with researchers at Columbia University.
Presentation of the study and explanations
Indeed, these researchers conducted a study on mice, on which enzymes involved in the recycling of vitamin K had been voluntarily deactivated. They studied the osteoblasts (*, cf. explanations at the bottom of the page) of these mice, and more specifically the hormone produced by the bones, controlled by vitamin K, and involved in the control of insulin and glucose.
The results of this study, published in The Journal of Cell Biology on March 9, 2015 (1) , demonstrate that this hormone successfully intervenes in energy and glucose metabolism. This hormone, also called osteocalcin, would help diabetic mice by improving their glucose intolerance. Osteocalcin would intervene, in fact, in the secretion of insulin in the pancreas, and would even increase its production.
It has also been confirmed that osteocalcin is highly dependent on vitamin K. Indeed, the deactivation of vitamin K in osteoblasts in diabetic mice would allow an increase in osteocalcin in the bloodstream, leading to better blood sugar levels and an improvement in insulin tolerance.
This study, combined with the results of previous studies, allowed the researchers to confirm that the function of bone is not only to maintain our muscles and our organs . Indeed, the bones would therefore be, in addition to that, an organ in its own right, capable of producing an important hormone in the proper functioning of our body. They would therefore become an endocrine organ. This is a great step forward for researchers, who will deepen this research funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States and the JA DeSève Foundation.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.