Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Low Vitamin K levels are associated with hand and knee arthritis.

As a condition that affects more than 21 million Americans (1), osteoarthritis (OA) is the #1 cause of disability in the U.S., limiting everyday activities for 16 million Americans. It results in 750,000 hospitalizations and costs our healthcare system over $51 billion each year (2).

Now a new study (3) has found another supplement that may help with osteoarthritis- vitamin K. In this trial, researchers studied patients who participated in the Framingham Offspring Study (4) and analyzed the association of vitamin K with OA. They looked at vitamin K levels measured between 1996 and 1998 and looked at hand and knee x-rays taken between 2002 and 2004.

They found that the presence of arthritis in both the hand and knee “decreased significantly” with increasing blood levels of vitamin K. These results led the researchers to conclude that “persons with higher vitamin K levels…have a significantly lower risk of [arthritis] than do persons with low vitamin K levels.”

Because this study was a measure of vitamin K blood levels and not vitamin K intake, recommendations could not be made on vitamin K intake as a preventive measure for OA. The current recommendations for vitamin K by the National Institute of Health is 80 micrograms per day, which can be found in one cup of a number of green vegetables, including spinach, Brussels sprouts and broccoli (5).

Source: Neogi, Tuhina, Sarah L. Booth, Yu Qing Zhang, Paul F. Jacques, Robert Terkeltaub, Piran Aliabadi, and David T. Felson. “Low vitamin K status is associated with osteoarthritis in the hand and knee.” Arthritis & Rheumatology 54, no. 4 (2006): 1255-1261.

© 2006, American College of Rheumatology

Posted November 11, 2008.

References:

  1. “Arthritis – Data and Statistics” posted on the CDC website.
  2. “Targeting Arthritis: Reducing Disability for 43 Million Americans” posted on the CDC Website.
  3. Neogi T.  Low vitamin K status is associated with osteoarthritis in the hand and knee. Pediatrics 2006; 54(4): 1255-1261
  4. Feinleib M.  The Framingham Offspring Study: design and preliminary  data. Prev Med 1975;4:518-25.
  5. “Vitamin K and Coumadin” posted on the National Institute of Health website.