Vitamin K2 Benefits Heart Health

by | Oct 17, 2008 | 2008, Cardiovascular Health, Vitamin K

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. 

Vitamin K is stored in fat in the body (called “fat-soluble) and occurs in two forms: vitamin K1 and K2. Vitamin K1 (also called phylloquinone) is present in green, leafy vegetables and certain vegetable oils (1.  Vitamin K2 (also called menaquinone) is found in animal products like meat, eggs, and cheese (2).

Now a new study (3) has found that vitamin K may benefit heart health. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) affects nearly 81 million Americans (4) and is estimated to cost our healthcare system $448.5 billion in 2008, according to the American Heart Association (5).

Previous research has suggested that vitamin K deficiency contributes to cardiovascular disease (6,7). Building on these findings, researchers analyzed data on 564 healthy post-menopausal women from the PROSPECT study (8).  They completed a food frequency questionnaire on their daily consumption of 178 foods (9) and provided blood samples that researchers used to measure total/HDL/HLDL cholesterol, blood sugar and triglycerides.  Finally, the patients underwent a multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) test to measure calcification of the coronary arteries that produced an Agatston score (10) as a measure of calcification.

While there was no association between vitamin K1 and coronary artery calcification, those with the highest K2 intakes (48.5 micrograms per day) had a 20% reduced risk of coronary calcification versus those with the lowest intake of vitamin K2 (18 micrograms per day). Agatston scores for the highest vitamin K2 intake averaged 2.1 (indicating a minimal risk for CVD) while those with the lowest intakes of K2 averaged 14, indicating a moderate risk for CVD (11).

For the researchers, “this study shows that high intake of [vitamin K2]…is associated with reduced coronary calcification” and that “adequate intakes of [vitamin K2] could therefore be important for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.”

Source: Beulens, Joline WJ, Michiel L. Bots, Femke Atsma, Marie-Louise EL Bartelink, Matthias Prokop, Johanna M. Geleijnse, Jacqueline CM Witteman, Diederick E. Grobbee, and Yvonne T. Van Der Schouw. “High dietary menaquinone intake is associated with reduced coronary calcification.” Atherosclerosis 203, no. 2 (2009): 489-493.

© 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

 

Posted October 17, 2008.

Reference:

  1. C. Bolton-Smith, R.J. Price, S.T. Fenton, D.J. Harrington and M.J. Shearer, Compilation of a provisional UK database for the phylloquinone (vitamin K1) content of foods, Br J Nutr 83 (2000), pp. 389–399.
  2. L.J. Schurgers and C. Vermeer, Determination of phylloquinone and menaquinones in food. Effect of food matrix on circulating vitamin K concentrations, Haemostasis 30 (2000), pp. 298–307.
  3. Beulens JWJ.  High dietary menaquinone intake is associated with reduced coronary calcification.  Atherosclerosis 2008.  In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 19 July 2008.
  4. “Cardiovascular Disease Statistics” posted on the American Heart Association website.
  5. “Cardiovascular Disease Cost” posted on the American Heart Association website.
  6. Furie B.  Vitamin K-dependent biosynthesis of gamma-carboxyglutamic acid, Blood 93 (1999), pp. 1798–1808. H.M. Spronk, B.A. Soute and L.J.
  7. Schurgers et al., Matrix Gla protein accumulates at the border of regions of calcification and normal tissue in the media of the arterial vessel wall, Biochem Biophys Res Commun 289 (2001), pp. 485–490.
  8. Sabour, A. Franx and A. Rutten et al., High blood pressure in pregnancy and coronary calcification, Hypertension 49 (2007), pp. 813–817.
  9. M.C. Ocke, H.B. Bueno-de-Mesquita, M.A. Pols, H.A. Smit, W.A. Van Staveren and D. Kromhout, The Dutch EPIC food frequency questionnaire. II. Relative validity and reproducibility for nutrients, Int J Epidemiol 26 (Suppl. 1) (1997), pp. S49–S58.
  10. A.S. Agatston, W.R. Janowitz, F.J. Hildner, N.R. Zusmer, M. Viamonte Jr. and R. Detrano, Quantification of coronary artery calcium using ultrafast computed tomography, J Am Coll Cardiol 15 (1990), pp. 827–832.
  11. Hoffman U.  Use of New Imaging Techniques to Screen for Coronary Artery Disease.  Circulation. 2003;108:e50.