05.28.20
The British Medical Journal recently published a population-based observational study that examined the association between intakes of vitamins K1 and K2 and incidences of coronary heart disease (CHD). This 11-year Norwegian community-based prospective cohort, made up of 2,987 Norwegian men and women between the ages of 46 and 49 at the onset of the trial, found a link between K2 and a lower risk of subsequent CHD events, evidencing that K2’s impact on vascular calcification can greatly improve health outcomes.
According to the study, “Association of dietary vitamin K and risk of coronary heart disease in middle-age adults: the Hordaland Health Study Cohort,” the role of vitamin K in the regulation of vascular calcification is established, and that patients with both medial and intimal calcification have a higher cardiovascular risk compared to similar patients without calcification. Therefore, an inverse association between vitamin K intake and CHD could be expected.
The researchers concluded from the results that “a higher intake of vitamin K2 was associated with lower risk of CHD, while there was no association between intake of vitamin K1 and CHD.”
The researchers followed participants in the community-based Hordaland Health Study from 1997-1999, and then followed through to 2009 to evaluate associations between intake of vitamin K and new onsets of CHD. Baseline diet was assessed by a past-year food frequency questionnaire. During the median follow up time of 11 years, 112 CHD cases were documented.
In the adjusted analyses, there was no association between intake of vitamin K1 and CHD, while there was a lower risk of CHD associated with higher intake of energy-adjusted vitamin K2. Further adjustment for potential dietary confounders did not materially change the association for K1, while the association for K2 was slightly attentuated. Researchers said that due to the limited number of epidemiological studies evaluating this correlation, further research is warranted.
In addition to the paper further establishing evidence that vitamin K2 has a cardio-protective effect, it helps to clarify misconceptions that “vitamin K is vitamin K,” due to the fact that vitamin K2 is unique to K1 in its cardioprotective effects.
NattoPharma Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hogne Vik said that vitamin K2’s unique profile of health benefits warrants that regulatory agencies should establish a recommended daily intake specific to K2. NattoPharma, the makers of MenaQ7 (vitamin K2 as MK-7), has supported an abundance of studies establishing the cardio-protective link between vitamin K2 and vascular calcification reduction.
“NattoPharma has driven the research confirming vitamin K2’s important health benefits, showing in human studies with healthy and patient participants that the progression of hardening of the arteries can be halted and even regressed with daily supplementation of MenaQ7 Vitamin K2,” Vik said, noting that this study builds on the body of evidence linking vitamin K status to health concerns such as peripheral arterial disease (PAD), coronary calcification, dementia, vascular stiffness in chronic kidney disease patients (CKD) and more.
“The common link is calcification and the need for adequate vitamin K2intakes to inhibit this in our circulatory system and tissues,” Vik continued. “Due to its very molecular structure, vitamin K2 can move beyond the liver to support other systems of the body, such as the bones and vasculature, where K1 cannot. There remains a great deal of confusion that K1 supports both bone and heart health, and this paper helps to identify the difference between the two in that K1 is not linked to cardiovascular health, whereas K2 is linked to both.”
According to the study, “Association of dietary vitamin K and risk of coronary heart disease in middle-age adults: the Hordaland Health Study Cohort,” the role of vitamin K in the regulation of vascular calcification is established, and that patients with both medial and intimal calcification have a higher cardiovascular risk compared to similar patients without calcification. Therefore, an inverse association between vitamin K intake and CHD could be expected.
The researchers concluded from the results that “a higher intake of vitamin K2 was associated with lower risk of CHD, while there was no association between intake of vitamin K1 and CHD.”
The researchers followed participants in the community-based Hordaland Health Study from 1997-1999, and then followed through to 2009 to evaluate associations between intake of vitamin K and new onsets of CHD. Baseline diet was assessed by a past-year food frequency questionnaire. During the median follow up time of 11 years, 112 CHD cases were documented.
In the adjusted analyses, there was no association between intake of vitamin K1 and CHD, while there was a lower risk of CHD associated with higher intake of energy-adjusted vitamin K2. Further adjustment for potential dietary confounders did not materially change the association for K1, while the association for K2 was slightly attentuated. Researchers said that due to the limited number of epidemiological studies evaluating this correlation, further research is warranted.
In addition to the paper further establishing evidence that vitamin K2 has a cardio-protective effect, it helps to clarify misconceptions that “vitamin K is vitamin K,” due to the fact that vitamin K2 is unique to K1 in its cardioprotective effects.
NattoPharma Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hogne Vik said that vitamin K2’s unique profile of health benefits warrants that regulatory agencies should establish a recommended daily intake specific to K2. NattoPharma, the makers of MenaQ7 (vitamin K2 as MK-7), has supported an abundance of studies establishing the cardio-protective link between vitamin K2 and vascular calcification reduction.
“NattoPharma has driven the research confirming vitamin K2’s important health benefits, showing in human studies with healthy and patient participants that the progression of hardening of the arteries can be halted and even regressed with daily supplementation of MenaQ7 Vitamin K2,” Vik said, noting that this study builds on the body of evidence linking vitamin K status to health concerns such as peripheral arterial disease (PAD), coronary calcification, dementia, vascular stiffness in chronic kidney disease patients (CKD) and more.
“The common link is calcification and the need for adequate vitamin K2intakes to inhibit this in our circulatory system and tissues,” Vik continued. “Due to its very molecular structure, vitamin K2 can move beyond the liver to support other systems of the body, such as the bones and vasculature, where K1 cannot. There remains a great deal of confusion that K1 supports both bone and heart health, and this paper helps to identify the difference between the two in that K1 is not linked to cardiovascular health, whereas K2 is linked to both.”
