Health Habits

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Posts Tagged ‘insulin resistance’

Fat AND Healthy?

March 2nd, 2009

Image: Threadless: The Last Piece

Fat and Healthy?

Well, sort of.

According to a new study, these sumo wrestlers have got a great reason to fight for that last piece of sushi.

Researchers have found that diets rich in Omega 3 fatty acids helped to protect their obese test subjects from the liver damage and insulin resistance that goes hand in hand with their bulging waistlines.

More specifically, it was two specific Omega 3s – protectins and resolvins—that provided the protective effects.

In the study, the researchers studied four groups of mice with an altered gene making them obese and diabetic.

Group One was given an Omega-3-enriched diet
Group Two was given a control diet.
Group Three was given docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
Group Four received only the lipid resolvin.

After five weeks, blood serum and liver samples from the test mice were examined.

The mice given the omega-3-rich diet exhibited:

reduced hepatic (liver) inflammation
an improvement of their fatty liver disease – NAFLD
reduced insulin resistance/ improved insulin tolerance
improved glucose (blood sugar) transport
improved insulin receptor signaling
increased production of the anti-inflammatory adipokine – adiponectin
a decrease in the formation of Omega-6-PUFA-derived eicosanoids – PGE2 and 5-HETE

And all of improvements were due to the formation of protectins and resolvins from omega-3 fatty acids.

Conclusion

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If you are fat, you need to increase your consumption of Omega 3 fatty acids.

Man Eats Wild - Bear Grylls gets his Omega 3s

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Obesity, Diabetes, Insulin Resistance and Vitamin K

November 27th, 2008

Ain’t science great?!!!

Researchers at Tufts University were investigating the effect that Vitamin K supplements have on the bone mineral density and vascular calcification of a group of 355 non-diabetic men and women aged 60 to 80.

However, during the course of their 3 year study, they found that the participants who received the Vitamin K supplement had a noticeable improvement in their insulin resistance.

And as you already know, insulin resistance is one of the major factors driving America’s obesity epidemic.

And if you didn’t know: read this, this and this.

STUDY DETAILS

Among the participants given vitamin K, both men and women took daily multivitamins containing 500 micrograms of vitamin K, five times the Adequate Intake (AI) recommended by the Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board, with instructions to maintain normal diets without any additional supplementation.

They also received a calcium and vitamin D supplement.

Men and women in the control group received no vitamin K supplementation but did receive the multivitamin and the calcium and vitamin D supplement.

For the present study, insulin resistance was assessed by the homeostasis model (HOMA-IR).

Additionally, participants’ blood glucose and blood insulin levels were measured following a minimum 10-hour fast.

In addition to improved insulin resistance, the supplemented men had lower blood insulin levels compared to the un-supplemented men at the conclusion of the study.

CONCLUSIONS

The researchers concluded that Vitamin K supplementation for 36 months may reduce progression of insulin resistance in older men.

And why would Vitamin K have an effect on insulin resistance?

The researchers theorized that vitamin K may improve insulin sensitivity through suppression of inflammation.

Aaahhh, our old friend inflammation.

Isn’t it funny how our Western diet, inflammation, obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes keeping showing up in the same places

So, Where Do I Get The Vitamin K?

During the study, the participants took daily multivitamins containing 500 micrograms of vitamin K, five times the Adequate Intake (AI) recommended by the Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board, with instructions to maintain normal diets without any additional supplementation.

Checking my multi, I see that I am taking 80 mcg of vitamin K.

So, where can I get more Vitamin K?

According to the USDA:

vitamin-k-foods

And if you want more info on Vitamin K:

Check out the Linus Pauling Institute page on Vitamin K

or watch this video:

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