THREE CATEGORIES OF VITAMIN K
- Vitamin K1
- Vitamin K2
- Vitamin K3 (menadione) This is a synthetic form of vitamin K that is not recommended.
(WARNING: Don’t take a Vitamin K supplements without your physician’s approval if you are taking an oral anticoagulant such as Coumadin and Warfarin.)
Vitamin K1 (phylloquinone)
This type of vitamin K is important for proper blood coagulation. Sources: Green vegetables like spinach, kale, cabbage, and broccoli. K1 goes directly to your liver and remains there. With a very short half-life, it’s gone within 3 or 4 hours.
Vitamin K2 (menaquinone or MK)
Over 90% of Americans are in deficit of Vitamin K2. Why? Because we eat less fermented foods than many other countries. Also, the dreaded “Low fat/high carb” approach hasn’t done us any favors. Absorption: Almost all of the K2 we consume is absorbed by our bodies, if it is consumed with dietary fat. Chris Masterjohn, Ph.D., says that “The optimal amount of fat to maximize absorption of K2 from a single meal is probably about 35 grams. ”
What type of fat? Dr. Masterjohn says “For the best effect, the fat should be low in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which means that butter and other animal fats, tropical oils, olive oil, avocado oil, macadamia nut oil, and the high-oleic varieties of sunflower and safflower oil would help the most.” (For more information, visit https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2016/12/09/the-ultimate-vitamin-k2-resource/)
Vitamin K2 is reported to be depleted in the presence of prescription cholesterol lowering drugs, such as statins.
Sources: 1) Grass-fed dairy and animal products 2) Fermented foods, like natto (Japanese soybeans), miso, and certain fermented vegetables.
Vitamin K2 is produced by bacteria during the fermentation process, such as a variety of cheeses.
Vitamin K2 has a much longer half-life and stays in your body longer than vitamin K1. Take Vitamin K2 with Vitamin D3. They work together to support cardiovascular health, bone health, and the immune system. While vitamin D3 helps the body absorb calcium, it’s vitamin K2 that helps make sure the calcium ends up in the right place. K2 moves calcium to bones and teeth, and out of the arterial walls, heart valves, and organs. K2 is known to improve the elasticity of coronary arteries. In addition, K2 helps prevent muscle cramps, especially in older age groups.
The Rotterdam Study (2002) was the first study to show the important benefits of vitamin K2. This 10-year study followed 4,807 initially healthy people, age 55 years and older.
Here are the results:
Subjects who consumed more than 32 mcg of dietary vitamin K2 per day from mostly fermented foods led to a:
1. 50 % reduction of arterial calcification
2. 50 % reduction of cardiovascular risk
3. 25% reduction of all-cause mortality
4. Those who consumed 45 mcg of K2 from foods lived 7 years longer than those getting only 12 mcg per day.
GROUPS OF VITAMIN K2
The four groups of K2 are: MK-4, MK-7, MK-8, and MK-9. The most IMPORTANT versions are MK-4 and MK-7. Let’s start with MK-4. Since its biological half-life is one hour, it isn’t a great choice for supplementation. MK-7 lasts much longer… about three days, allowing consistent blood levels to build. Cheese lovers will appreciate this statement: MK-7 is only produced by bacterial fermentation.
WHAT DOES DR. KATE SAY ABOUT VITAMIN K2?
Kate Rhéaume Bleue, N.D., graduated from McMaster University with an honors B.Sc. in Biology and completed her professional training at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto, class of 2002. She followed with a two-year residency during which she taught classes and supervised at various teaching clinics. As an educator, she regularly appears on television and radio teaching about many health topics. Dr. Kate is a Canadian expert in natural medicine and speaks internationally.
She is the author of Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life. Read the Table of Contents here: http://doctorkatend.com/vitamin-k2-and-the-calcium-paradox/
Take a look at the following list of conditions associated with K2.
WATCH THIS CHEESE HANGOUTS INTERVIEW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9L_Oo2TkxU
Watch other interviews with Dr. Kate here: http://doctorkatend.com/videos/
If you are concerned about taking any form of Vitamin K, read this post: http://doctorkatend.com/faq/
WHAT DOES DR. MERCOLA SAY?
Read Dr. Mercola’s information about cheese and Vitamin K2: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/06/17/heart-healthy-cheese.aspx (The following information was found on his website)
When It Comes to K2, How Do Your Favorite Cheeses Stack Up?
“In my interview with Dr. Rheamue-Bleue, she identified the cheeses highest in K2 are Gouda and Brie, which contain about 75 mcg per ounce. Hard cheeses are about 30 percent higher in vitamin K2 than soft cheeses. In perusing the nutritional tables myself, I found it interesting that the cheeses highest in vitamin K2 also tend to be the highest in protein and calcium — so the most nutritious overall. Just realize that the values listed for “vitamin K” in common nutritional tables are of limited value because they don’t specify what TYPE of vitamin K they’re measuring.
As it turns out, scientists have found high levels of MK-7 in one type of cheese: Edam.11 This is wonderful news for those of you who would much rather sit down to a slice of Edam than a bowl of natto! (Natto, a strongly fermented Japanese soybean product, has the highest MK-7 level of any food.)”
“Earlier, I made my case for selecting raw cheeses from grass-pastured, grass-fed animals. However, cheese contains a bacterially-derived form of K2, so it doesn’t matter if the cheese was made from grass-fed milk or not — the bacteria used to culture the cheese is the same. Grass-fed dairy is important for the other reasons I’ve already discussed — just not specifically for the K2.
To summarize then, if you’re going to select cheese with your primary goal being a good source of vitamin K2, the best ones are:
Gouda
Brie
Edam
Other cheeses with lesser, but significant, levels of K2: Cheddar, Colby, hard goat cheese, Swiss, and Gruyere.”
***
Read this article published by Real Food RN. (https://realfoodrn.com/gouda-vitamin-k2-powerhouse/)
The following came from the website, RealFoodRN.com
Title: Gouda: Vitamin K2 powerhouse
Why K2 is essential to good health:
- Cancer protective: K2 has been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 35 percent. K2 protects against leukemia and might even be used as a treatment for leukemia. It has been shown to stop the growth and invasion of human hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer). K2 has also been shown to supress the growth of lung and bladder cancers.
- Heart health:K2 protects us from heart disease by reducing calcium deposits in the arteries (some studies have even shown it can reverse arterial calcification). K2 basically takes the extra calcium in the blood and deposits it into our bones, where it should be.
- Bone health: K2 helps form strong bones by promoting calcium deposition into the bones, and maintains bone mineralization by limiting the formation of osteoclasts (the cells that break down bone)
- Skin health: K2 is associated with prevention of wrinkles, skin sagging, varicose veins. K2 prevents calcification of our skin’s elastin, thus smoothing our lines and wrinkles. K2 is also necessary for vitamin A to do its job, which is maintaining proper skin call proliferation.
- Oral health: Weston A. Price talks extensively about the role of K2 and tooth health. K2 helps keep teeth cavity resistant by helping dentin produce osteocalcin, which deposits calcium into the enamel. Saliva has the second highest concentration of Vitamin K2 in the body.
- Brain health: K2 promotes healthy brain function and is currently being studied for its role in the prevention of and treatment for dementia
Gouda cheese is higher in Vitamin K2 than most liver, grassfed butter, and even pastured egg yolks.
Other sources of K2 (data from Weston A. Price Foundation)