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Vitamin K-2
Description:
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.
Properties & Uses:
In an animal study in rabbits with high cholesterol, vitamin K2 was shown to decrease circulating cholesterol concentrations, suppress progression of vascular plaque, thickening in the vessels, and pulmonary atherosclerosis. 23 In a study of rats on arterial calcification, vitamin K2 completely prevented calcification, whereas vitamin K1 had little effect. 24 A three year study involving postmenopausal women (a group which is generally known to be at risk for vascular illness), the elastic properties of the carotid artery were recorded using ultrasound. A supplement of 1 mg/day of vitamin K1 completely abolished age-related arterial stiffening, whereas the placebo group showed a decrease of 13% of elastic properties of the vasculature during the test period.
Food Sources:
Most of our dietary vitamin K1 comes from vegetables - about 80%. Vitamin K2 is obtained mainly from the "good" bacteria produced in the digestive tract and is also found in certain fermented foods. 26 The absorbability of the vitamin K2 from the GI tract bacteria is uncertain. 27 The absorption of vitamin K1 from vegetables is about 10%.
"However, both K1 and K2 are well absorbed from supplements as long as they are taken with some dietary fat to stimulate bile secretion."