I have had many requests to discuss vitamin K2 and so in this video we will be answering
the following questions what does vitamin K do and what is its role in the body who is at risk
for a vitamin K deficiency what are the signs and symptoms of a vitamin K deficiency what are
the dietary sources of vitamin K and can vitamin K supplements interact with medications if you stick
with me till the end I will show you a very recent study on vitamin K2 and its role in calcification
and aortic stenosis that had some very interesting findings before we continue I'd like to remind you
that this video is not a replacement for medical advice please do not make any changes to your diet
or medications without speaking to your health care provider first there is increasing evidence
that in some cases our Western diet and the way that our food is produced may be leaving us more
prone to different nutritional deficiencies it is true that maintaining a diet that is complete
with Whole Foods that you can cook and prepare yourself is ideal however this is not always
the case and this is not always the situation we know that vitamins are essential nutrients
these nutrients are essential to maintain life and maintain many of the chemical reactions that our
body needs to produce different life-sustaining proteins for example it is important to remember
that vitamins are divided into those that are fat soluble and those that are water soluble the fat
soluble vitamins include vitamins a d e and K and so Vitamin K is the vitamin that we will
be focusing on this being a fat soluble vitamin it might be easy to confuse vitamin K with an element
called potassium these are two very different components Vitamin K is an organic compound
whereas potassium represented by K on the periodic table is an inorganic element so it's important to
make this distinction before we go any further so what does vitamin K do and what is it good
for the original term for vitamin K comes from the German word coagulation meaning the body's ability
to clot or to prevent a hemorrhage newborn babies in particular are at higher risk for a vitamin K
deficiency and this is why when babies are born they are quickly given a vitamin K injection in
order to help prevent any tragic outcomes from hemorrhaging due to a vitamin K deficiency it is
important to note that our body does not store up large quantities of vitamin K and the quantities
of vitamin K that it does store it seems to use quite rapidly so we do need to acquire vitamin
K either from our diet or from supplementation when we speak of vitamin K we are referring to
a group of vitamins that are necessary cofactors for the production of many different substances
and proteins in the body these proteins are essential for maintaining adequate coagulation in
the body as well as normal levels of calcium since vitamin K was discovered we have learned that it
plays a very important role in disease States like osteoporosis vascular calcification osteoarthritis
cancer and even cognition vitamins that are part of the group of vitamin K vitamins include vitamin
K1 phyloquinone vitamin K2 menaquinone which can be produced by gut bacteria and the little known
or lesser-known vitamin K3 which is a synthetic vitamin that is currently being studied for
different cancer treatments and is currently not available to the public vitamin K2 known
as menaquinone 4 and menaquinone 7 are vitamins that are essential for the process of coagulation
in particular for the formation of the protein prothrombin prothrombin is a protein in the body
that gets converted to thrombin when you say cut yourself and this helps to Aid in the formation
of a blood clot without these important proteins like prothrombin and thrombin you would not be
able to form the clots that are necessary to help prevent bleeding in different places in the body
especially when you have a cut or another type of injury vitamin K also helps the body to utilize
and strengthen our bones according to Mount Sinai research has found that people who have higher
levels of vitamin K have greater bone density while low levels of vitamin K have been found in
those with osteoporosis there are other studies suggesting that low levels of vitamin K may put
people at greater risk for osteoarthritis there is increasing evidence that vitamin K may help
to prevent fractures in post-menopausal women who are at greater risk for osteoporosis we also have
evidence that vitamin K contributes to bone health in male and female athletes and this is because
vitamin K helps to activate a protein called osteocalcin osteocalcin plays a very important
role in bone formation and mineralization and this helps to strengthen bones and prevent fractures
osteocalcin is the most important protein found in bone after collagen and it is produced by
cells called osteoblasts osteocalcin also acts as a hormone to adjust insulin and glucose levels in
the body it increases testosterone AIDS in muscle strength and it also helps with cognitive function
let's discuss who is more at risk for developing a vitamin K deficiency vitamin K deficiency is
fairly rare because we can acquire vitamin K through our diets say through green leafy
vegetables or in many cases our gut is also able to produce vitamin K those who are more at risk
for a vitamin K deficiency are usually people who have a low amount of vitamin K in their diet diet
or they have a malabsorption issue meaning that they are not able to absorb enough vitamin K
from their diet for their body to utilize this includes individuals who suffer from alcohol
abuse General malnutrition malabsorption liver gallbladder and biliary diseases celiac disease
and cystic fibrosis it's also important to note that those who are already prone to a vitamin
K deficiency and are given long-term antibiotics may be at risk for deficiency and this is because
the antibiotics are not selective and they can deplete the very bacteria that are responsible
for producing vitamin K in the gut those who are on long-term hemodialysis and those who suffer
from severe burns are also at a higher risk for vitamin K deficiency there is also evidence that
some patients who have Alzheimer's may be at a higher risk of vitamin K deficiency due to a lower
amount of vitamin vitamin K in the diet there is some research that suggests that supplementation
with vitamin K in older but healthy adults may help to improve cognitive function however
caution is warranted because supplementation with vitamin K can interact with medications
and we will speak about this in a moment so what are the signs that you may be deficient in vitamin
K the daily requirement for vitamin K for women is 90 micrograms a day and 120 micrograms a day
for men though deficiency is considered to be rare a vitamin K deficiency may present in the
following ways a prolonged Prothrombin time and this can be measured with a very simple blood
test unusual bleeding easy bruising or gums that are bleeding quite frequently this could also be
caused by other things but it could be a sign of vitamin K deficiency hemorrhaging osteopenia which
is a condition where there is lower than normal bone mass or bone density and even osteoporosis
what type of foods contain vitamin K vitamin K1 is mostly found in plants and is our main dietary
source of vitamin K whereas vitamin K2 is found in fermented foods and some meats and cheeses foods
that contain a significant amount of vitamin K include broccoli kale spinach asparagus and
dark green lettuce beef liver green tea and turnip greens are also abundant in vitamin K chlorophyll
is the substance in plants that gives plants their green color and is abundant in vitamin
K finally vitamin K can also be found in soybean and canola oil fortified meal replacement shakes
and the menaquinones can be found in natto which is a type of fermented soybean as well as smaller
amounts that can be found in meat cheese and eggs it is very important to note that freezing foods
can destroy the amount of vitamin K in that food however heating or cooking foods does not seem
to destroy vitamin K it really is not difficult to ingest adequate amounts of vitamin K daily in
the video description below I will give you a chart that shows you the amounts of vitamin K
found in different foods you will see that just half a cup of beets will provide you with 368
micrograms of vitamin K so this goes back to the importance of maintaining a healthy diet full of
Whole Foods that you can cook this ensures that you will get enough vitamin K daily so if you are
considering supplementing vitamin k a question you should be asking is can vitamin K interact
with medications and the answer is yes a change in diet that results in excess intake of vitamin K
from dietary sources can interact with a group of medications known as oral anticoagulants in this
case the medication that we are most concerned with is Warfarin otherwise known as Coumadin
vitamin K supplements should not be taken well on the medication warfarin however if you are
already on Warfarin and taking vitamin k please do not make any adjustments without talking to
your primary care provider first there are however newer medications that are being
used with increasing frequency that do not have this type of interaction with vitamin K another
medication that can interact with Vitamin K is the antibiotic family cephalosporins if a person is
given a cephalosporin like cephalexin or Keflex or sepharoxine there is a whole family of these
medications for more than 10 days this could leave someone who is already prone to deficiency to be
deficient in vitamin K we know that patients who are given antibiotics for longer terms are more
prone to deficiency another medication that can leave babies more prone to vitamin K deficiency
if their mothers are on this med education this medication is called phenotoin otherwise known
as Dilantin now vitamin k does not cross the placenta and it does not cross into breast
milk in very high amounts and mothers who are on this medication are more prone to deficiency in
the first place meaning that their babies will get less vitamin K from the mother and so this needs
to be monitored by a physician there is another medication that is often used for weight loss
and it is a bile acid sequesterant that we know as orlastat or xenical this medication helps to
reduce the amount of fat that the body is actually absorbing in doing this it also reduces the amount
of fat soluble vitamins vitamin A d e and K that the body is able to absorb so this could leave
someone more prone to a deficiency if used over a long period of time now there's a very interesting
study that looked at the supplementation of vitamin d and vitamin K versus placebo and
cardiovascular health they looked at whether this type of supplementation could help to prevent the
progression of calcification in patients with aortic stenosis now this was a multi-center
double-blind randomized trial it was a very high quality study this trial looks specifically at
men who had evidence of aortic and coronary artery calcification as verified and monitored by CT Scan
they looked at whether giving patients either a placebo or vitamin D with vitamin K2 would help
to prevent the progression of calcification the men were divided into two groups and given either
Placebo or 720 micrograms of menaquinone 7 plus 25 micrograms of vitamin D these patients were
then monitored over a period of 24 months though this trial noted that there was no
significant difference in the progression rate of calcification in those treated with vitamin D
and mk7 versus placebo they did however note that there was a significant reduction in a particular
protein known as dephosphorylated uncarboxylated Matrix GLA protein in the mk7 plus vitamin D group
this being a biomarker of functional vitamin K status we do know that high plasma concentrations
of this particular protein are a reflection of poor vitamin K status there is definitely a need
for more high quality research on the benefits of vitamin K2 supplementation fortunately for
most healthy adults we know that dietary intake of vitamin K2 is quite easily attainable though some
vitamin D supplements are already coming with the addition of vitamin K2 it's particularly important
to ask your healthcare provider before taking any of these supplements in particular if you are
already taking other medications or supplements that could interact this
will also give you information as to when you should take the medication so you can properly
absorb this and get the most benefit from your vitamins and supplements if you like this video
don't forget to give it a like And subscribe with notifications for future videos check
out my next video here thank you so much for joining me take care and stay healthy bye bye
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