What you know about vitamin K probably isn’t enough. Most doctors will tell you it is involved in the clotting process and that is all they know! Scientist have known for years, however, that osteoporosis patients have vitamin K levels 70% lower than age-matched controls demonstrating diminished bone density in low serum vitamin K patients. Obviously, this increases risk of hip fracture.
Vitamin K is needed for osteocalcin, a protein, to transport calcium from the blood and connect it to the bones. Without adequate vitamin K, this important process doesn’t occur and the crippling effects of osteoporosis go unchecked. Calcium if it is not taken up to form bone mass, in the vitamin K deficient state, instead deposits into the arterial wall. Thus, we see aging adults with hardened arteries, brittle bones, osteoporosis, and deficient of calcium.
Bone is a dynamic tissue that is in constant formation through a process called remodeling. Remodeling is highly regulated by both hormonal and growth factors to preserve bone mass. Other factors that can contribute to osteoporosis are vitamin D absorption, abnormal bone matrix or phosphorus deficiency which is most likely rare in the American diet. In the absence of these conditions as a cause for osteoporosis, perhaps vitamin K is a treatment option you should discuss with your doctor.
European studies demonstrated vitamin K2 was superior to K1.
