Vitamin Information Center

Vitamin K2 helps reduce fractures

A recently concluded study by the Archives of Internal Medicine points to the importance of including 45 mg per day of vitamin K2 in your daily diet to decrease the risk of vertebral fractures by 60 percent, hip fractures by 71 percent and all nonvertebral fractures by 81 percent.
There are various forms of vitamin K, but only 45 mg per day of MK-4 has been shown in clinical trials to decrease fracture risk better than bisphosphonate medications. This amount of vitamin K2 does not interfere with healthy coagulation and is safe to take with osteoporosis medications.

According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, about one in two women and one in four men over age 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in their remaining lifetime.

Elements of marijuana beneficial
Ohio State University scientists have found that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells.

The research suggests that the development of a legal drug that contains certain properties similar to those in marijuana might help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Though the exact cause of Alzheimer’s remains unknown, chronic inflammation in the brain is believed to contribute to memory impairment.

Any new drug’s properties would resemble those of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main psychoactive substance in the cannabis plant, but would not share its high-producing effects. THC joins nicotine, alcohol and caffeine as agents that, in moderation, have shown some protection against inflammation in the brain that might translate to better memory late in life.

Benefits of weight-loss surgery seen for pregnant women
Obese women who have weight-loss surgery before becoming pregnant have a lower risk of pregnancy-related health problems and their children are less likely to be born with complications, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

The women had a significantly lower risk of gestational diabetes and high blood pressure than obese women who did not have surgery, according to the study published in the Nov. 19 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In addition, these women’s babies were less likely to be born prematurely, be born underweight or be born overweight than children born to obese women, according to the study.

The incidence of bariatric surgery increased eight fold in the United States from 1998 to 2005, with women aged 18 to 45 accounting for 83 percent of the procedures. More than 150,000 women of child-bearing age underwent bariatric surgery from 2002 to 2005.

FROM WIRE REPORTS

April 11th 2008, Lysaker, Norway - An increased intake of vitamin K2 may reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 35 per cent, suggest results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).

The findings, based on dietary intake from 11,319 men taking part in the EPIC Heidelberg cohort, are published in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study, by Katharina Nimptsch, Sabine Rohrmann and Jakob Linseisen, adds to a growing body of science supporting the potential health benefits of vitamin K2, most notable for bone and blood health.

In this recent study, dietary intake of vitamin K2 was linked to an inverse association with prostate cancer, while vitamin K1 intake did not offer any prostate benefits, report the researchers from the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg.

Dr. Anne Bjørnebye Vik, Vice President R&D for NattoPharma, says: “ The potential anti-tumor effect of vitamin K2, in this case specifically prostate cancer, adds to the great potential for NattoPharma’s natural vitamin K2, MenaQ7™, one of the more documented derivatives in the group of vitamin K2’s or the so called long-chain menaquinones. As this interesting field of nutrition and cancer now also include vitamin K2, we are excited that NattoPharma’s natural menaquione-7, branded as MenaQ7™, shows to be the optimal form of vitamin K2.”

The study has also been welcomed by leading vitamin K researcher Cees Vermeer, PhD, from the VitaK and Cardiovascular Research Institute CARIM at the University of Maastricht. Commenting on the research, Dr. Vermeer says: “the beneficial effect of the long-chain menaquinones has previously been reported for cardiovascular disease; this specific form of vitamin K2 is characterized by preferential transport (via LDL) to extra-hepatic tissues (such as prostate and arterial vessel wall), and by very long half-life times (three days versus 1.5 hours) as compared to vitamin K1 and the short-chain menaquinone-4.

“I am highly pleased by this paper, which underpins the (widely underestimated) importance of long chain menaquinones for disease prevention,” Dr. Vermeer says.

“It also supports my opinion that intake of vitamin K2 supplements may have a significant contribution to public health.”

Study details

Nimptsch, Rohrmann and Linseisen from the Division of Cancer Epidemiology at the German Cancer Research Centre state that epidemiologic studies of dietary vitamin K intakes have not been conducted in relation to prostate cancer risk.

According to the European School of Oncology, over half a million new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed every year worldwide, and the cancer is the direct cause of over 200,000 deaths. More worryingly, the incidence of the disease is increasing with a rise of 1.7 per cent over 15 years.

A food frequency questionnaire was used to assess habitual dietary intakes at the start of the study, with vitamin K intakes divided into phylloquinone (vitamin K1) and menaquinones (vitamin K2) and total and advanced prostate cancer in the Heidelberg cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

The researchers documented 268 incident cases of prostate cancer during the 8.6 years of follow-up. Of these, 113 cases were classified as advanced prostate cancer. While no reduction in the risk of prostate cancer was observed for vitamin K1 (phylloquinone), an increased intake of all menaquinones (vitamin K2) was associated with a 35 per cent reduction in risk. However, the researchers stated that this association was “non-significant”.

Furthermore, a strong association was documented when they considered only advanced prostate cancer, with increased intake of menaquinones linked to a 63 per cent reduction in risk.

While dietary sources of menaquinones include meat and fermented food products like cheese, and natto, Nimptsch and co-workers report that menaquinones from dairy had a stronger inverse association with advanced prostate cancer than did menaquinones from meat.

“Our results suggest an inverse association between the intake of menaquinones, but not that of phylloquinone, and prostate cancer,” concluded the researchers. “Further studies of dietary vitamin K and prostate cancer are warranted.”

Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
April 2008, Volume 87, Number 4, Pages 985-992
“Dietary intake of vitamin K and risk of prostate cancer in the Heidelberg cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Heidelberg)”
Authors: K. Nimptsch, S. Rohrmann, J. Linseisen
NattoPharma, Norway offers a natural vitamin K2 under the trade name MenaQ7.

K definitions

There are two main forms of vitamin K: phylloquinone, also known as phytonadione, (vitamin K1) and menaquinones (vitamins K2). K1 is found in green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli and spinach, and makes up about 90 per cent of the vitamin K in a typical Western diet; while K2, which makes up about 10 per cent of Western vitamin K consumption, is found mainly in fermented dairy products as e.g. cheese. The Japanese food Natto (fermented soybeans) is especially rich in vitamin K2.

A synthetic form of vitamin K, known as K3, does exist but is not recommended for human consumption.

The vitamin K’s are less well known than vitamins A to E, but this increasing body of research, as well as increased marketing and advertising from supplement makers, is raising public awareness of vitamin K.

New research has concluded vitamin K2 consumption can aid recovery from hip fractures as well as have potential osteoporosis benefits.

Published in the European Journal of Epidemiology, Japanese researchers found a positive link between vitamin K2 and hip fractures and osteoporosis, and suggested a review of the, “dietary reference value of vitamin K from the perspective of osteoporosis would be useful.”

The current Japanese reference value is 55mcg for women and 65mcg per day for men. In the US and Canada it is 120mcg per day for men and 90mcg per day for women. In France the limit is 65mcg per day for both men and women.

“Since regions which consumed a lot of vitamin K, especially vitamin K2, showed a low incidence of hip fracture, we considered that vitamin K intake, not absorption, of over 300 mcg/day would be helpful to reduce the incidence of hip fracture,” the researchers concluded.

Family K

The vitamin K family includes the forms phylloquinone (K1) that are typically found in cruciferous vegetables and menaquinone (K2), which are sourced from bacteria. Studies have shown K2 to be the more important nutrient in regard to bone health.

“Menaquinone-7 (K2) showed a very long half-life time compared to vitamin K1,” the researchers wrote. With this in mind they recommended higher doses in regions like Europe and North America, where vitamin K1 consumption is higher.

The study also investigated vitamin D, calcium and magnesium, which have strong clinical bone health backing, and found when these were adjusted for, vitamin K2 continued to reveal a beneficial effect.

Dietary sources

The study assessed population diets in various regions of Japan as well as dietary differences, and found that those regions where certain vitamin K-rich fruits and vegetables were prominent had reduced rates of hip fracture.

“There was also a striking pattern of high intake of vitamin K and low incidence of hip fracture in eastern areas of Japan, with the opposite pattern-a low intake of vegetables rich in vitamin K and a high incidence of hip fracture-in western areas,” they wrote.

“These findings lend support to the idea that vitamin K is an important factor explaining regional differences in the incidence of hip fracture.”

Natto, a food made from fermented soy beans, was singled out as being a particularly abundant vitamin K source.

K for bones

The researchers recognised that the role of Vitamin K role in assisting bone health is relatively new.

“Calcium, the most studied nutrient in the area of bone health, is known for its effectiveness in retarding bone loss in postmenopausal women,” they said. “Magnesium and vitamin D play important roles in calcium and bone metabolism. Vitamin K, originally recognised as a factor required for normal blood coagulation, is beginning to receive more attention for its role in bone metabolism.”

Due to the ecological nature of the study, a “causal linkage between the incidence of hip fracture and intake of vitamin K” could not be confirmed but the researchers said, “further research using more robust epidemiological methods is warranted.”

Estimates suggest that in the absence of primary prevention the number of hip fractures worldwide will increase to approximately 2.6 million by the year 2025, and 4.5 million by the year 2050.

Osteoporosis weakens bone strength which increases the likelihood of hip fracture, a problem that increases with age.

BioSym Technologies, a privately-held developer and manufacturer of specialty ingredients for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical markets, is pleased to announce the launch of its Vitamin K2-MK7 raw material.  BioSym’s unique, patent-protected fermentation process results in an extremely pure raw material which can be produced with a significant reduction in processing time.

Recent clinical studies have demonstrated that natural Vitamin K2 as MK-7 is the most bioavailable and bioactive form of Vitamin K.  It has been demonstrated to optimize the utilization of calcium in the body to assist in overall cardiovascular health. 

Dr. Daniel DeBrouse, President of BioSym, states “We are extremely excited to offer the North American market a domestic source for high-quality Vitamin K2-MK7.  Our expertise in biosymbiotic fermentation, extraction and purification will provide our customers with a raw material of the highest quality, which is also absent of solvent residues and is a true all-natural product.”

BioSym’s current range of raw materials, including Vitamin B12, Astaxanthin and Vitamin K2, are manufactured under strict pharmaceutical GMP’s in an ISO-9001 facility.  As a result of its centralized location and superior fermentation techniques, BioSym has the ability to offer its clients a high quality product at a highly competitive cost and with virtually no lead time from the date of order.  DeBrouse added “To our knowledge, BioSym is the only direct manufacturer of Vitamin K2-MK7 located in North America.  Much of the material is sourced from Asia and our clients have indicated a preference for purchasing material of North American origin.”

BioSym has selected CK Nutritional Ingredients as its exclusive distribution representative in Canada.  The company is presently evaluating a variety of distribution options in the U.S. market.

About BioSym Technologies

BioSym Technologies is a manufacturer of specialty nutraceutical ingredients based in Des Moines, Iowa.  With their central location and superior fermentation techniques, BioSym is able to offer high quality ingredients at a competitive price with some of the shortest lead times in the industry.   The manufacturing facility based in Oklahoma City is certified ISO 9001.  For additional, information please contact BioSym’s corporate headquarters at 515-480-4484.  For Canadian inquiries, please contact Michael Chernyak at CK Nutritional Ingredients (Tel: 905-760-1176, Ext 222 and mchernyak@ckfoods.com).

OSLO, Norway, Feb 5, 2008 - (ABN Newswire) - MenaQ7(TM) Natural Vitamin K2 Proclaimed GRAS Generally Recognized as Safe) Independent Panel Deems MenaQ7 Safe for Use in Dairy Applications

5 February 2008 Morristown, NJ. NattoPharma, Norway, have received independent GRAS designation for MenaQ7 natural vitamin K2 as menaquine-7 for use as an ingredient in food products. MenaQ7 has been determined to be safe as a human food ingredient by an independent panel of recognized experts.

The panel conducted a critical review of extensive safety, toxicology and clinical research data obtained from animal and human testing, based on scientific procedures and safety assessment criteria established by the U.S. FDA. Continue Reading…