Stiff Arteries and Soft Bones - An Aging Dilemma Explained by Lack of Vitamin K2 There is an epidemic of Heart Disease (or Atherosclerosis) on one hand and Osteoporosis on the other throughout most of the western world. We supplement gobs of Calcium, only to have it taken up by plaque in our arteries and other soft tissues, while our bones drop in density as we age. One cause of this is proving to be a lack of a little understood vitamin - Vitamin K2. For those interested in lifetime fitness, this information can lead to a viable strategy for avoiding heart disease or osteoporosis.

Research in the last decade suggests vitamin K plays a crucial role in many bodily functions. It may be a key vitamin to fight the signs of aging. Scientists are even looking at vitamin K to be the future of promoting immune health and supporting memory. With research now focusing on its potential effects on the brain, liver and pancreas, vitamin K is one of the most promising vitamins for maintaining peak health throughout the aging process.

Vitamin K1, or phylloquinone, is found naturally in plants. Vitamin K2, also called menaquinone, is made by the bacteria that line the gastrointestinal tract. Vitamin K3, or menadione is man-made and is generally regarded as toxic because it generates free radicals. Research shows that toxicity has occurred in infants given synthetic vitamin K3 by injection. Vitamin K2 works primarily outside of the liver in the bone and blood vessels to regulate the uptake of calcium and other minerals.

Natural Sources - The best natural source of vitamin K2 is derived from an ancient Japanese food called Natto. Natto is made from fermented soybeans and significant amounts of vitamin K2 are produced during the fermentation process.

Vitamin K2 provides major protection from osteoporosis, cardiovascular blockages and pathological calcification. Vitamin K's job is to put calcium in the right places and keep it from being deposited in the wrong places. The right places are bones and blood, and the wrong places include calcification of the vessels, bone spurs and calcification of soft tissues.

Optimum calcium nutrition depends on the interplay of a number of related compounds, such as magnesium, vitamin D3, and vitamin K. Just recently, the importance of vitamin K in regulating the healthy function of calcium has been recognized. It has been shown that vitamin K2 can be supplemented in very high doses, as used in Japan. It has been found to be safe even at 45 mg or more per day - up to a thousand times greater than generally occurring in the daily diet. Even small amounts of vitamins K1 & K2, can have a great impact on overall health. Vitamin K1 and more importantly, vitamin K2, play critical roles in preventing arterial calcification, which is a risk factor in coronary artery disease, as well as other calcification conditions associated with aging.

How this vitamin is involved in blood coagulation eluded scientists until 1974, when a requirement for vitamin K was shown for the formation of numerous proteins in the body known as gamma-carboxy glutamic acid (GCGA) proteins. These proteins, when modified, specifically bind to calcium which is important for blood coagulation, as well as other critical processes, and through which calcium regulation affects cartilage, bone, protein in blood, and very importantly, regulates the calcium in the cardiovascular system. It appears that the extra carboxyl group binds calcium so that it can be moved around.

Vitamin K works by acting as a cofactor in the carboxylation (adding of a carboxyl group C02) via an enzyme (gamma glutamyl carboxylase), of glutamic acid (a specific amino acid) to form a modification of that amino acid (gamma carboxyglutamic acid) in a variety of critical plasma proteins. Without this step, these plasma proteins will not function in their role of the regulation of calcium concentrations in various tissues.

When vitamin K is in short supply in the body, these proteins are formed without the GCGA component and are inactive for their intended functions - which play important roles in four different tissue types including: 1) liver; 2) bone; 3) cartilage; and 4) arterial vessel walls.

The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council pegs the requirements of vitamin K in micrograms (mcg) ranges from 5 micrograms for infants and up to 80 mcg for adult males and 65 mcg for adult females. 2

One vitamin K intervention study showed that both bone mineral density and vascular elasticity were shown to increase. 5 Other studies have demonstrated consistent findings adding to the conclusion that vitamin K1, and preferably, a good amount of vitamin K2, may be the best protection for preventing calcification of the arteries, and for protection against osteoporosis. A wealth of new information implies that vitamin K, and particularly vitamin K2 holds very strong promise for avoiding two of the most feared components of aging - heart disease and osteoporosis, and potentially, the whole array of Syndrome X consequences.

More detailed discussion of vitamin K can be found at the Sprinboard4health and Life extension Foundation websites.

1. Schurgers LJ, Vermeer C. Differential lipoprotein transport pathways of K-vitamins in healthy subjects. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2002 Feb 15;1570(1):27-32.

3. Knapen MH, Jie KS, Hamulyak K, Vermeer C. Vitamin K-induced changes in markers for osteoblast activity and urinary calcium loss. Calcif Tissue Int. 1993 Aug;53(2):81-5.

5. Vermeer C, Braam L, Schurgers L, Brouns F. Agro-Food Industry Hi-Tech 2002, 13:11-15.