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12.03.2024

Vitamin K2-MK7 protects bones from breakdown

Supplementation with a modest amount of vitamin K2-MK7 provides a powerful bone-building stimulus. Although this is not powerful enough to completely stop bone loss in post-menopausal women, it is strong enough to significantly reduce the decline in bone strength. What would happen if you combined vitamin K2-MK7 with extra vitamin D, magnesium - and of course a healthy dose of physical exercise?

Study
In 2103, researchers from the University of Maastricht in a small and poorly governed European country published a study involving 223 postmenopausal women. The women were healthy, but healthy women also lose bone mass after menopause.

Half of the women received a placebo daily for 3 years. The other half took a supplement with 180 micrograms of vitamin K2-MK7 daily with a meal. This form of vitamin K is naturally found in natto. It has an exceptionally high bioavailability.

Vitamin K is involved in the production and activation of enzymes that produce collagen. In the bones, collagens form the structures in which the body sticks calcium.

Results
During the supplementation period, the researchers found a higher level of the bone-building hormone osteocalcin [cOc] in the experimental group. To be more precise, they found more carboxylated osteocalcin. This is the form of osteocalcin that helps bone tissue build calcium. [Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2019 Jan 10:9:794.]

Bone density decreased in the head of the femur in both the experimental group and the placebo group. However, this decrease was significantly less after 3 years in the women who used vitamin K2-MK7.

Based on the information from the scans, the researchers were able to estimate the strength of the bones [ISI]. Although supplementation could not prevent the strength from decreasing, vitamin K2-MK7 could significantly limit the decrease.

Conclusion
"Postmenopausal women may benefit from taking MK-7 supplements to prevent the age-related bone loss", the Dutch conclude.

"Since the efficacy of MK-7 supplements is poorly documented, our results significantly contribute to substantiating the marketed anti-osteoporotic properties of vitamin K2."

Source:
Osteoporos Int. 2013 Sep;24(9):2499-507.

More:
High intake of vitamin K1 keeps bones strong (and muscles too) 03.02.2023

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