Avoid Diabetes with This Vitamin

Skip the iceberg lettuce and go for the dark leafy greens on your next trip to the salad bar. Iceburg lettuce is almost devoid of usable nutrients. The dark leafy veggie are loaded. Beside the other nutrients in the dark leafy vegetables scientist have discovered a specific connection between vitamin K and type 2 diabetes.

Turns out the vitamin K in greens like kale and spinach may reduce your chances of developing insulin resistance -- a major risk factor for diabetes.

Earlier this year  Registered dietician Keri Glassman explained to Harry Smith some natural, low cost food items that may fill the grocery shelves during the coming year. Much of this is old news to members on readers of this site. There is howerer some new information about vitamin K.

Watch the video.

Keep Insulin on the Job

In a study, people who took vitamin K supplements for 36 months had lower blood levels of insulin and experienced improved insulin resistance compared with an unsupplemented control group. Contrary to other studies, only the men benefitted from K -- possibly because more of the women were overweight or obese. These conditions contribute significantly to insulin resistance and diminish the body’s response to vitamin K.

All About Inflammation

How does vitamin K boost insulin function? The researchers aren’t quite sure, but they suspect it helps quench inflammation, for one. And although more research is needed to confirm the study’s findings, you can’t go wrong eating dark leafy greens and other vitamin K-packed foods, since they boost your health in numerous other ways. But if you are on a blood thinner, such as warfarin, talk to your doctor before increasing your vitamin K intake.

Try these yummy K-packed recipes from EatingWell: