Despite the widespread food fortification with vitamins in many “developed” countries, the fortification mostly revolves around iron, vitamin B1 and niacin 9B3). Even if foods are fortified with other vitamins, such fortification is rare, and even when done it is invariably performed with the inactive precursors of vitamins due the lower cost of using precursors. For some of the vitamins, especially vitamins B6 and B2, multiple studies have demonstrated that administering the precursor has diminished effectiveness in aging/disease due to reduced conversion into the active form. In fact, the lack of conversion of the cheap vitamin B6 precursor (pyridoxine Hcl) is the main cause of the well-known neuropathy side effect from pyridoxine supplementation, while neuropathy does not occur when the active form of B6 is taken instead. Anyways, the study below demonstrates that a simple deficiency of the activated form of vitamin B6 – pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (P5P) – is enough to cause full blown diabetes II in animals and that, conversely, restoring the levels of P5P may be able to reverse some cases of diabetes. Now, the point of this post is not to make people immediately start popping vitamins left and right, but rather to point out that in some (many?) cases a chronic serious disease that has spun a massive medical industry around it, may be nothing more than simple nutrient deficiency resulting in suppressed mitochondrial function (as is the case in this study as well). As such, a reasonable approach would be to do some testing for P5P, as well as the activity of several of the enzymes that depend on that vitamin/cofactor. If deficiency is confirmed, then it may be safer to try first P5P supplementation instead of the myriad of pharma drugs a doctor would likely push hard on every patient newly diagnosed with diabetes II. The story Peat often told about his father curing his diabetes I by eating Brewer’s yeast (which is very rich in the B vitamins) now has a study corroborating its legitimacy.
https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ado4513
“…Consistent with our results in zebrafish, a pyridoxine-free diet supplemented with 4-DP caused a blunted insulin release in the pancreas of rats (51). In light of the ongoing debate, about whether vitamin B6 reduction is a cause or a consequence of diabetes (52), our data show that the former is likely true.”
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-07-cells-pancreas-crucial-blood-sugar.html
“…To find out what makes the first responder cells unique, the researchers compared the gene expression of highly glucose-sensitive beta cells to those that are less sensitive. They found that first responders are involved in vitamin B6 production. The first responder cells express a key enzyme involved in transforming the inactive form of dietary vitamin B6 into the form that is active in the cells. In close collaboration with Prof. Guy Rutter’s team at the University of Montreal, the researchers turned off the vitamin B6 production in both zebrafish and mouse pancreas. The ability of the beta cells to respond to high blood sugar was dramatically reduced in both species. “This indicates that vitamin B6 plays an evolutionarily conserved role in the response to glucose. It is possible that the first responders produce and supply Vitamin B6 to the rest of the beta cells to regulate their activity. Checking whether this indeed is the case is one of our next steps,” says Prof. Ninov.”
