Don’t doubt it for a minute; your bones need vitamin K2

Boning up

Women, don’t let anyone talk you into giving up your vitamin K. Your bones need that K more than you know.

Prominent bone health researchers are refuting a new placebo-controlled trial from Norway that suggests vitamin K curbs bone loss no better than placebo in post-menopausal women.

But the design of this trial has two big problems.

ONE: More than 340 post-menopausal women received either placebo or vitamin K2, 360 micrograms daily–a dose that can only be described as meager.

TWO: The trial lasted just one year. As one doctor told NutraIngredients-USA, “All vitamin K intervention trials lasting less than 2 years have unfortunately contributed to confusion regarding the effect of vitamin K supplement.”

Despite these problems, the trial produced one promising result.

Your bones MUST have a protein called osteocalcin. Without it, bones can’t utilize calcium to build strength. In this study, levels of osteocalcin were boosted in the K2 group, but not in the placebo group.

Experts say that rising osteocalcin is an important bio- marker that shows up before bone strengthening begins.

Let’s try this again…

Wonder what a K2 bone study might look like with a generous dosage and a lengthy intervention?

I’m glad you asked.

A while ago I told you about a study from the Netherlands. Researchers recruited 325 postmenopausal women without osteoporosis. Half the women received a placebo and half received vitamin K2, 45 milligrams per day.

That dosage is 125 times larger than the Norwegian study!

The intervention period: three years.

Results: Bending strength, compression strength, and impact strength all improved in the K2 group, but not in the placebo group. Also, bone mineral content and femoral neck width increased in the K2 group, but not in the placebo group.

The detail about the femoral neck is a key point.

The femoral neck is a narrow section of the femur (thigh bone) located just below the ball-and-socket hip joint. When the femoral neck is fractured, the femur is often disconnected from the ball. In an aging population, that’s a common and very painful fracture.

Dietary sources of K2 include meat, liver, egg yolk, and fermented products such as yogurt and cheese. Vitamin K1 is mostly found in dark, leafy green vegetables and is converted to K2 in the intestine.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson

Sources:
“Vitamin K2 Supplementation Does Not Influence Bone Loss in Early Menopausal Women” Osteoporosis International, Published online ahead of print, 11/25/09, springerlink.com
“Scientists Rally in Support of Vitamin K2’s Bone Benefits” Stephen Daniells, NutraIngredients-USA, 4/27/10, nutraingredients-usa.com