Study Finds Vitamin K Benefits Go Beyond Blood Health

by | Jan 11, 2010 | 2009, Vitamin K, Vitamins

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS.

Vitamin K is found in cabbage, cauliflower, green leafy vegetables, cereals, soybeans, and with highest amounts in alfalfa (as much as 300 micrograms per 100 grams of alfalfa (1)).  It is a fat-soluble vitamin (meaning the body can store it in fatty tissue) that is also made by the bacteria that line the gastrointestinal tract (2).  The adequate intake (AI) for vitamin K is established at 90 micrograms per day for women and 120 micrograms per day for men, based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (3)

Vitamin K’s most well-known health benefit lies in helping our blood clot.  This takes place in the liver, which is why people with severe liver disease have lower blood levels of vitamin K and an increased risk of uncontrolled bleeding (hemorrhage) (4).  Now a new study (5) has found that there are two other very important roles vitamin K plays in our health:

Insulin Health. A 2008 study (6) found that supplementing with 500 micrograms per day of vitamin K for three years resulted in less progression of insulin resistance compared to placebo among older men.  This was measured in the form of a protein called HOMA-IR, which is a reliable indicator of insulin resistance (7).  These findings will help play a role in diabetes, which currently affects 24 million Americans and cost our healthcare system $174 billion per year (8).

Inflammation Health.  In conjunction with insulin health, the researchers cite research suggesting that vitamin K helps maintain inflammation health.  It does this by affecting levels of inflammatory proteins called cytokines, especially NFKB (9) which is commonly elevated in cancer (10).  Unfortunately, the researchers did not give exact doses of vitamin K that have elicited these positive effects on inflammation levels.

While vitamin K has also been promoted for bone health (11,12,13), the researchers did not agree, citing research showing no effect on hip bone density with vitamin K supplementation ranging from 200 micrograms per day (14) to 5 milligrams per day (15).

Source: Booth, Sarah L. “Roles for vitamin K beyond coagulation.” Annual review of nutrition 29 (2009): 89-110.

© Copyright 2017

Posted January 11, 2010.

References:

  1. “Vitamin K”, in Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia.
  2. “Vitamin K” posted on the Medline Plus website.
  3. “NHANES III Documents” posted on the US National Library of Medicine website.
  4. “Vitamin K” posted on the Oregon State University website.
  5. Booth SL.  Roles for Vitamin K Beyond Coagulation.  Ann Rev Nutr 2009; 29: 29: 89-110.
  6. YoshidaM,JacquesPF,MeigsJB,SaltzmanE,SheaMK,etal.2008.EffectofvitaminKsupplementation on insulin resistance in older men and women. Diabetes Care 31:2092–96.
  7. Vogeser M. Fasting serum insulin and the homeostasis model of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in the monitoring of lifestyle interventions in obese persons.  Clin Biochem 2007 Sep;40(13-14):964-8. Epub 2007 Jun 2.
  8. Number of People with Diabetes Continues to Increase” from the CDC Website.
  9. Ohsaki Y, Shirakawa H, Hiwatashi K, Furukawa Y, Mizutani T, Komai M. 2006. Vitaminlipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation in the rat. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 70:926–32.
  10. “NF-kB and Disease” posted on the Yale School of Medicine website.
  11. Yeh JK. Comparative effects of vitamin K and vitamin D supplementation on prevention of osteopenia in ca lcium-deficient young rats. Bone 2003; 33(4): 557-66.
  12. Booth SL. Vitamin K intake and bone mineral density in women and men. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2003; 77(2): 512-6.
  13. Hidaka T. Treatment for patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis who have been placed on HRT and show a decrease in bone mineral density: effects of concomitant administration of vitamin K(2). Journal of Bone and Mineral Metabolism 2002; 20(4): 235-9.
  14. Bolton-Smith C, McMurdo ME, Paterson CR, Mole PA, Harvey JM, et al. 2007. Two-year randomized controlled trial of vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and vitamin D3 plus calcium on the bone health of older women. J. Bone Miner. Res. 22:509–19.
  15. Cheung AM, Tile L, Lee Y, Tomlinson G, Hawker G, et al. 2008. Vitamin K supplementation in postmenopausal women with osteopenia (ECKO Trial): a randomized controlled trial. PLoS Med. 5:e196.