A new study published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry showed that type 2 diabetes can have another, completely unexpected reason - a lack of vitamin A in the body, according to an online edition for girls and women aged 14 to 35 Pannochka. net The authors of the work, researchers at the Veyla Cornell College of Medicine in New York, are confident that this discovery will lead to the creation of completely new methods for the prevention and treatment of diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) of type 2 is the most common type of diabetes, accounting for 90-95% of cases.

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance and the inability of beta cells of the pancreas to meet the body's needs for this hormone.

According to the lead author of the study, Dr. Loraine Gudas, head of the department of pharmacology at Weill Cornell, vitamin A stimulates the activity of beta cells. This means that vitamin A deficiency can play a role in the development of diabetes mellitus.

There are two types of vitamin A. One of them, true vitamin A, or retinol, is present in meat, poultry, fish and dairy products. The second, provitamin A, or beta-carotene, can be found in many fruits and vegetables. Vitamin A promotes cellular growth, supports the functioning of the immune system and vision.

Previous studies have shown that during intrauterine development of the fetus, vitamin A plays a key role in the formation of beta cells of the pancreas. But the authors of the last study say that the effect of vitamin A on beta cells in adults was not fully understood.

Vitamin A deficiency and beta-cell loss in adult mice.

To find out, the researchers analyzed the development of beta cells in two groups of adult mice. One group of genetically modified rodents was unable to store vitamin A in the body, and the other group accumulated vitamin A normally.

The researchers found that mice, who in principle could not store the depot of vitamin A, observed accelerated death of beta cells of the pancreas, resulting in rodents could not produce insulin and developed diabetes.

In addition, when scientists removed vitamin A from the diet of healthy mice, they experienced massive loss of beta cells, reduced insulin production and increased blood glucose levels - the key factors in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus. When vitamin A was returned to the rodent diet again, the production of beta cells grew, and with it the level of insulin increased and the glucose level returned to normal.

Dr. Gudas says that this confirms the involvement of vitamin A in the processes of vital activity of beta cells. Consequently, a deficiency of this vitamin can be another reason for the development of diabetes.

"How does lack of vitamin A cause the death of beta cells and reduce insulin production?" Here is the question that we very much want to answer. Beta cells are extremely sensitive to the content of vitamin A in the diet. No one reported this earlier.

Our study provides an excellent basis for future research and development of new methods of treatment and prevention of diabetes, "- wrote the scientists.

The team states that the synthetic form of vitamin A can theoretically reverse the development of type 2 diabetes. But this is also a topic for future work.

By the way, in November 2014 the medical publication Medical News Today told of a study whose authors used verapamil (an antihypertensive drug) for the treatment of diabetes mellitus.

medbe. en.