Nagoya, Japan—A team of Japanese researchers has offered a new theory for the cause of several metabolic diseases: impaired vitamin K2-dependent processes.

The group notes that cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type-2 diabetes mellitus (DM) seem to be linked, but a causal relationship is unknown. Many times, patients with these diseases take cholesterol-lowering medication (statin), which is known to deplete important nutrients like CoQ10 and vitamin K2. At the same time, certain vegetable and hydrogenated oils were found in small animal studies to shorten the survival rate of stroke-prone hypertensive rats. These oils also inhibit vitamin K2-dependent processes.

Therefore, the researchers state, “These vegetable oils and medicines such as statin and warfarin share, in part, a common mechanism to inhibit vitamin K2-dependent processes, which was interpreted to lead to increased onset of CVD, DM, chronic kidney disease, bone fracture and even mental disorder.” They add that impaired vitamin K2-dependent processes—but not plasma high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol—could be the cause of lifestyle diseases like DM.

This review article is published inPharmacology.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine Online, 6/24/16