Table of Contents
What Are the Benefits? | What Does It Do? | Foods High in Vitamin K2
The role K2 plays is still not entirely understood, but research suggests that a nutrient deficiency of this vitamin can have far-reaching consequences for your health.
A study published by the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) revealed that increased intake of vitamin K2 may reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 35 percent. (1) The authors point out that the benefits of K2 were most pronounced for advanced prostate cancer and, importantly, that vitamin K1 did not offer any prostate benefits.
The findings were based on data from more than 11,000 men taking part in the EPIC Heidelberg cohort. It adds to a small but fast-growing body of science supporting the potential health benefits of vitamin K2 for bone, cardiovascular, skin, brain, and prostate health.
What Are the Benefits?
Unfortunately, many people are not aware of the health benefits of the K2 vitamin. The K vitamins have been underrated and misunderstood up until very recently in both the scientific community and the general public.
Vitamin K2 can help you maintain cardiovascular health, improve your skin, strengthen bones, and promote brain function. Find out more about this powerful nutrient.
It has been commonly believed that the benefits of vitamin K are limited to its role in blood clotting. Another popular misconception is that vitamins K1 and K2 are simply different forms of the same vitamin—with the same physiological functions.
New evidence, however, has confirmed that the K2 vitamin’s role in the body extends far beyond blood clotting. It may help stave off chronic disease by:
- Preventing cardiovascular disease
- Ensuring healthy skin
- Forming strong bones and improving bone health
- Promoting brain function
- Supporting growth and development
- Helping to prevent cancer
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What Does It Do?
The K2 vitamin has so many functions not associated with K1 that many researchers insist that K1 and K2 are best seen as two different vitamins entirely.
Differences between Vitamins K1 and K2
A large epidemiological study from the Netherlands illustrates this point well. Researchers collected data on the vitamin K intakes of the subjects between 1990 and 1993. (2) They measured the extent of heart disease in each subject, who had died from it, and how this related to K2 intake and arterial calcification. They found that calcification of the arteries was the best predictor of heart disease. Those in the highest third of K2 intakes were:
- 52 percent less likely to develop severe calcification of the arteries
- 41 percent less likely to develop heart disease
- 57 percent less likely to die from it
However, intake of vitamin K1 had no effect on participants’ heart health.
While K1 is preferentially used by the liver to activate blood clotting proteins, K2 is preferentially used by other tissues to deposit calcium in appropriate locations, such as in the bones and teeth, and prevent it from depositing in locations where it does not belong, like the soft tissues. (3) In an acknowledgment of the different roles played by vitamins K1 and K2, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) determined the vitamin K2 contents of foods in the U.S. diet for the first time in 2006. (4)
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Do We Need K2 in Our Diet?
A common misconception is that human beings do not need K2 in their diet, since they have the capacity to convert vitamin K1 to K2. The amount of K1 in typical diets is generally greater than that of K2, and researchers and physicians have largely dismissed the contribution of K2 to nutritional status as insignificant.
However, although animals can convert vitamin K1 to K2, a significant amount of evidence suggests that humans require preformed K2 in the diet to obtain and maintain optimal health.
The strongest indication that humans require preformed K2 in the diet is that both epidemiological and intervention studies show its superiority over K1. According to the epidemiological study from the Netherlands referenced above, intake of K2 is inversely associated with heart disease in humans, while intake of K1 is not. A 2007 study showed that K2 is at least three times more effective than vitamin K1 at activating proteins related to skeletal metabolism. (5) And remember that in the study on the K2 vitamin’s role in treating prostate cancer, which I mentioned at the beginning of this article, vitamin K1 had no effect.
Foods High in Vitamin K2
All of this evidence points to the possibility that K2 may be an essential nutrient in the human diet. So where does one find K2 in foods? The following is a list of the foods highest in the vitamin:
- Natto, a soy dish popular in Japan
- Hard cheese
- Soft cheese
- Egg yolks
- Butter
- Chicken liver
- Salami
- Chicken breast
- Ground beef
It was once erroneously believed that intestinal bacteria played a major role in supplying the body with this vitamin. However, the majority of evidence contradicts this view. Most of the K2 produced in the intestine is embedded within bacterial membranes and not available for absorption. Thus, intestinal production of K2 likely makes only a small contribution to vitamin K status. (6)
While some foods like natto and hard cheeses are high in K2, many people don’t consume them regularly. This is where smart supplementation can play a role. When supplementing with K2, consider a product that contains a blend of MK-4 and MK-7 forms, which may have unique benefits.
Better supplementation. Fewer supplements.
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Fermented Foods Are a Good Source of K2
Fermented foods, however, such as sauerkraut, cheese, and natto, contain substantial amounts of vitamin K2. Natto contains the highest concentration of K2 of any food measured; nearly all of it is present as MK-7, which research has shown to be a highly effective form. One study demonstrated that MK-7 increased the percentage of osteocalcin in humans three times more powerfully than did vitamin K1. (7)
Butter and “Activator X”
It is important to note that commercial butter is not a significantly high source of vitamin K2. Dr. Weston A. Price, who was the first to elucidate the role of vitamin K2 in human health (though he called it “Activator X” at the time), analyzed over 20,000 samples of butter sent to him from various parts of the world. (8) He found that the Activator X concentration varied 50-fold. Animals grazing on vitamin K-rich cereal grasses—especially wheatgrass and alfalfa in a lush green state of growth—produced fat with the highest amounts of Activator X, but the soil in which the pasture was grown also influenced the quality of the butter. It was only the vitamin-rich butter grown in three feet or more of healthy topsoil that showed dramatic curing properties when combined with cod liver oil in Dr. Price’s experiments and clinical practice.
Therefore, vitamin K2 levels will not be high in butter from grain-fed cows raised in confinement feedlots. Since the overwhelming majority of butter sold in the U.S. comes from such feedlots, butter is not a significant source of K2 in the diet for most people. This is yet another argument for obtaining raw butter from cows raised on green pasture.
We’re Still Learning about the Health Benefits of K2
New research that expands our understanding of the many important roles of vitamin K2 is being published at a rapid pace. Yet it is already clear that vitamin K2 is an important nutrient for human health—and one of the most poorly understood by medical authorities and the general public.
How much VK and D3 should you take and can you get a combined one. thanks.
Dr mercola is the only one with a combo, which I’d highly recommend – if you search Mercola k2 & D3 it will come up.
Now Foods has been selling D3+K2MK7 for years. Throne had D3+MK4 at one point, haven’t bought it for a while.
You can buy this from most vitamin suppliers. Swanson Vitamins carries this and so does PureFormulas. Both Swanson and PureFormulas sell the brand, Thorne but other brands are also available.
Webber Naturals has a D+K2 supplement too I believe it is K2 MK-7 as well I’ve seen it at some grocery stores and pharmacies… the dose they had was 120mcg K2 to 1000ui D3
http://www.webbernaturals.com/product/vitamin-k2-d3
DON’T forget to also supplement with Magnesium, as Magnesium activates Vitamin D3 and without Magnesium, Vitamin D is inactive in the body!
Thanks Sally. How much of each should I use.
For every 100mcg of K2 one should take between 1000-1500 IU of D3.
How much VK and D3 should you take. Can you get a combined one. thanks.
Does anyone here have tried vit K2 (MK-7) Bluebonnet products please?
Absolutely right. I’m surprised no-one has mentioned juicing, which will crush the cell walls of those organic greens to release the enzymes, and will therefore give you all the K1 you need – which your body should convert into the K2 it requires in a perfectly natural way
I did do a short video for my son (hence the personal nature of my commentary, sorry!) who is keen on juicing since his wife contracted cancer and they read up on the benefits of juicing, which if you can be bothered you can watch here. Bad sound at the end but the product it produces is like rocket fuel and absolutely packed with nutrition.
The China Study is a fascinating and potentially life changing book I found. The proteins in animal flesh are really not good for you, and nowadays in particular, the amount of chemicals, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics etc in animals (and through them, dairy) is outrageous. Do have a read if you can.
There’s no magic bullet I’m afraid – not K2 not juicing nor anything else – but I’m utterly convinced that natural organic whole foods (fruit veg nuts seeds etc) should form the basis of your diet and your body is such an incredible machine that it will take things from there, and other than in extreme cases it will regulate your requirements without the need for supplements.
And if you can juice those greens to release the trapped enzymes (which only ruminants do completely) then you will benefit so much, so fast that you’d be amazed. Not to mention the energy boost it gives you. A little calf turns into a raging bull just by being able to digest fully its grass. Just imagine what benefits we get if we break down kale spinach broccoli celery etc in a juicer … and no, you won’t grow horns or a massive willy.
On the subject of dairy, again the China Study is an illuminating read. Leaving aside the very important matter of animal protein and fat being bad for you (as opposed to good fats like Flax Seed Oil) cows and sheep and chickens tend to be fed on corn or similar products, which are encouraged for commercial reasons to grow quicker taller closer together etc by being modified genetically in some cases and being covered in all sorts of different chemical fertilisers and pesticides and goodness knows what else to combat bugs and insects and bacterial infection, and then processed and fed to the animals (who aren’t made to eat this stuff naturally) and so need antibiotics and hormones to try and combat this. This finds its way into the flesh eggs and milk of course, and the milk for example is then pasteurised to counter some of the bacterial problems but which also kills the enzymes etc, and the resulting thin blue liquid is coloured and processed to look like the milk you buy in your supermarket – made by cows for the original purpose of growing little calves into much bigger calves very quickly, rather than containing the proteins etc which are good for us humans – and which the milk marketing folk (who commission the surveys and research) tell us quite erroneously that our children need for healthy bones and teeth, and even provide it free at some schools to imprint upon us the benefits of this bad white liquid.
Im not promoting being a vegan because although I’ve been pretty successful in cutting out almost all dairy almost all the time, I do love fish and I will still occasionally eat some meat because it tastes so damn good, but the more I keep reading about the damage that eating animal flesh does to us, and the more I realise that, contrary to what I always believed, we aren’t designed to be carnivorous, the taste of animal flesh is losing a lot of its charm.
No we’re not carnivores. And only just omnivores in truth. I think we were designed as primarily vegetarian with the capability of eating and digesting small amounts of meat in emergencies. We don’t have carnivores’ teeth – try taking a bite out of a buffalo or a cow or a wild boar and see what happens … you’ll win yourself a good kicking. Those teeth are meant to bite and chew apples and carrots etc. Our stomachs aren’t acidic enough to be true carnivores – they are a fraction of what true carnivores are like, so it takes us ages and a prolonged period of acid production to break down and digest a big bite of juicy steak, and that is not a good thing. Acid conditions in our bodies create conditions that cancer loves. And our intestines aren’t short like real carnivores – they’re very long. The animal fat stays in us for a long time. Too long. Any kind of fat that is solid at body temperature will tend to solidify inside our arteries and elsewhere … the fat after being “digested” separates out like an emulsion, and so, ladies and gentlemen who like their meat,
welcome to heart and circulation problems.
This rather old but nonetheless relevant and current video clip by an extreme but clever and rather amusing doctor/prof/boffin does make the above points rather better than I have …
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KNCGkprGW_o
Anyway, back to the K2, I do think there’s a danger in rushing into supplements and thinking they’re a cure-all, when the #1 best thing you can possibly do for yourself is to take this guy’s advice and lose the animal/dairy as near to completely as you can, get stuck into organic whole foods (fruit veg nuts seeds etc) as much as you can, and juice those greens to get the most benefit you can … and that’s a massive benefit.
Me, I hate celery and broccoli but if I grind them up in a juice, mixed with apple, carrot, pineapple, lemon and some ginger and a bit of turmeric (not enough to turn the green juice brown, just because it looks like pond water!) and stick some ice cubes in it – or put it in a cocktail shaker, which is what I do – then it really does taste really refreshing and cleansing and, being a liquid, it goes straight through your stomach in no time and is immediately absorbed and into your blood in about 15 minutes. You get an immediate energy and nutrition boost, and once you start this juicing of fruit/veg, it’s difficult to stop. And that’s a Good Thing!
So try getting your K2 through juicing those green leaves – watch that Vimeo vid clip above – you’ll see just how much green stuff you use to get one incredibly concentrated juice. Insanely good! And lay off the supplements if you can – the nutritional route to health is horribly misunderstood and overlooked, particularly by western doctors etc who are trained from the outset to spot a problem and try and cure it with a pill. Instead of realising that with the correct nutrition, your body can balance itself and cure the majority of its ailments itself. Not all the time, sure, and not in extremis, but for most of us it can be quite literally a life saver.
Please google Denise Minger China Study and a much different picture emerges. One where high carb consumption was ignored when statistical analysis of animal protein was analysed, plus a number of other things. Regarding pesticides it may also be worth to point out that when animals eat pesticide impregnated foods, grains that humans eat usually also contain a lot of pesticides. That non-organic grain nowadays also is sprayed with Roundup as a last kill to increase yield make at least for me all grains off limits. I also warmly recommend a read of “The Big Fat Surprise” by Nina Teicholz. A brilliant book. Cheers!
This book of Denise Minger’s China Study BTW… EXCELLENT READ !
The largest epidemiological study ever, documented in the China Study, clearly supports a vegan focused high carb diet as healthier than western high meat diets. Meaning its rebuttal was instigated and well funded by our dominant huge cattle industry and our stooge USDA. Further proof is the success in reversing heart disease by using the Esselstyn vegan diet based on the China Study.
Similarly, Bible time diets were largely stone ground barley bread (65% of calories) and legume based with some dairy and occasional meat. See Daniel 3 in the Bible re the superiority of a legume and water diet compared side by side to a royal meat and wine diet visibly noticeable within 10 days.
Good objective opinion here, to the ‘massively flawed’ China Study and no, Dr. Mercola does not work for the cattle industry and certainly not for the corrupt USDA!!
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/08/china-study.aspx
The vegan diet is incredibly unhealthy and unsuited for human beings, because we are naturally omnivorous and plants contain many anti-nutrients and are mostly indigestible to humans. There are also many nutrients that we cannot get from plants i.e. B12, Retinol, Vitamin D, cholesterol, Heme Iron, Creatine, Carnosine, DHA and of course, Vitamin K2 unless you can stand Natto, which many people can not!
Thank you Mr. Jinxx! Very much appreciated the alternative point of view. I will do further research on K2 now.
I completely second this. Her book was a total eye opener for me. And incidentally when she did the research she gave up being a vegan!
This article says they found that animals can convert K1 to K2 so they assumed that it was true for humans also. Later studies found that humans don’t.
Veganism has been thoroughly debunked. The China Study has too. Humans are not natural vegans or vegetarians, nor are humans well-designed for eating grains. Take a look at the work of Dr. Weston Price, and quit spreading misinformation, please.
Price was a racist, so I don’t take his assesment seriously. He also didn’t necessarily have the full picture of what people ate and how they lived. His pictures are extremely disturbing.
I’ve got his book and didn’t find racism there at all. This is a strange comment. Yes, his photos of bad teeth and malformed mouths are disturbing and are there in contrast to those of the well formed teeth and jaws of people who eat food that has grown and consumed in their local area, without the ‘benefit’ of ‘civilisation’, ie flour and sugar.
I do not find racism in Dr. Price’s writings at all. In fact, part of his motivation for making those trips around the world was to disprove the ideas of those who blamed “race mixing” for the degeneration of Americans’ teeth and health. He did not believe that race mixing was the cause. He believed it was the denatured and “displacing foods of commerce”.
Price wasn’t a racist, but even if he was, I don’t understand how that invalidates scientific findings. Logical fallacies don’t transform into concrete arguments just because an individual on one side has a moral failing.
Oh, grow up! Being a racist does NOT mean the man didn’t know what he was talking about I’m a racist too but I’m also an ND and an expert on nutrition, working with the latest research under my belt to help my patients. It’ just plain ignorant to ignore research by experts just because you don’t like their persuasions.
Being vegan is not an easy path for people to walk. Those people that I know who follow this path need certain supplements to stay healthy. Vit B12 and cobalt being a couple of important ones. A human’s digestive tract is not as long a that of herbivore or as short as a carnivore’s. This medium length is probably more adapted to us eating nuts, fruits and berries, cheeses, breads, fermented foods, etc but also able to digest cooked meat, fish and shellfish. For good gut health meats etc need to be cooked and fat plays an important role in our health too.
Most animal meat is supplemented with B12 on factory farms anyway.
Actually veganism has not been “debunked”. Weston Price was a dentist in the early 1900s. His research is a century old. The “debunking” of the China Study was debunked by T. Colin Campbell himself.
It has been shown that “paleo” people were much more towards the vegan diet than the modern day “paleo” diet that exists now to sell books to gullible people. Check these videos out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgc-6zZj034
@Tired of vegans – It’s quite possible humans aren’t supposed to be vegans or vegetarians – maybe more like omnivores, but you don’t make sense when stating humans are not well designed for eating grains, as if we are better designed to eat meat. Our stomachs aren’t designed to eat meat very well either – especially our colons. Maybe we should eat a little bit of meat, but much more vegetables, fruits, grains, and other foods besides meat. What I get is the impression that you are probably addicted to meat and want to defend your lifestyle choice by attacking vegans. If you are a man and this is your choice, you’re likely to get cancer – a statistical fact. Just think of it that way. I love red meat as much as you do, but I certainly eat it sparingly now that I know more about it. Also, what type of meat are you talking about? There are all different types of sources and conditions involved from what type of farm it came from to considering hormones, antibiotics etc. Not all meat is the same and 95% comes from factory farms and will cause cancer. The only meat I eat is grass fed, hormone free, antibiotic free, etc. It’s expensive but I can afford it since I hardly ever buy it. You making a blanket statement about all meat as if it’s the same exposes your lack of insight into this topic. Perhaps your frustration towards vegans stems from your inability to understand and full grasp these issues in detail. Educate yourself and you may understand a little better why some people are cutting back on their meat consumption, because in the meantime you sound very ignorant, and sorry, but frankly quite stupid to me.
“Oxalic acid present in greens and other foods has the potential to bind with calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc and copper in our intestines to form oxalates, insoluble salts, thus interfering with the absorption of these minerals and making them unavailable for the body to use. It doesn’t, however, affect the absorption of calcium in other foods consumed at the same meal.”
Article goes on to say best bet is to rotate high oxalic greens with low, and/or steaming greens for 4 or less minutes and eating a little more than you would drink raw to make up for loss of nuts’ from heat. . .
Unless you have kidney stones, Oxalate content does not matter. Your kidney will process them just fine.
Your kidneys may not be damaged by oxalates–the evidence is not there–but the difficulty with oxalates remains–the essential minerals that bind with oxalic acid become unavailable for our bodies. This is why spinach, although high in iron, is such a poor therapy for anemia.
I believe in eating greens–they are good for us!–but the danger in eating a diet too heavily dependent on them is clear. Balance, moderation in all things is key. Yes, even moderation in such good stuff as spinach or kale.
oh well…..
Or you can blend your spinach with eggshells so that the oxalates precipitate out.
You talk about using massive amounts of vegetable produce to get a glass of juice? Really? And that’s sustainable in what way? Throw out all that produce? Imagine if the whole world were to take your advice. Just eat your veggies. And meat.!!!!!!
The China Study is a fraud. T. Colin Campbell cherry picked the data and excluded any that contradicted his thesis. He went in to this wanting to prove animal fats and protein were detrimental to one’s health. Denise Minger showed this conclusively in her well written essay. Please take a look at this article also.
http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/the-china-study-myth/
I’m 74 years old, still play competitive tennis, and am in perfect health. I obtain 50% of my calories from saturated fats and eat plenty of grass fed beef, bacon, and pork. I eat very few vegetables, but do take a green supplement in the form of freeze dried powder smoothie.
First, thanks to Chris for the info and forum.
MOST OF ALL, thanks to Mr. Jinxx for an extraordinarily articulate, useful response, even though I disagree about magic bullets.
A) We have neither the digestive system NOR the teeth for eating meat… and, when an animal eats meat, note that it’s eaten very shortly after death, because the bacteria is horrific after that.
B) Air, water, never-heated oil, bulk, minerals, and probiotics. These are the Fountain Of Youth components
We have so many people coming through our clinics, and the few who follow this immediately and persistently reverse their aging, as in bags disappearing, gray hair going to black, and our lead inventor even grew hair back in his bald spots!!
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D) Dr. Bob Marshall, (PR Labs) has a radio show on healthline.cc, has been broadcasting for about 40 years, and offers simple, potent information we heartily endorse. He’s like David Wolfe on brain steroids, so to speak. HIGHLY recommended.
E) You can only eat food, or non-food. If you eat non-food, and call it food, you are aging several times faster than the rest of us. If the MAJORITY of your diet is not green, it is not possible to thrive into 60’s, 70’s and beyond, just not possible at all.
F) Many of us know the 144 reasons not to eat sugar, from instant brain-degrading to destruction of health bacteria in the gut. Yet, the deadliest substance of all is, of course, the paste that we eat. Flour plus water = wallpaper paste.
Our nutrition comes to us in liquid form, through the walls of the intestine. The intestine is FAR more sophisticated than you realize, it has it’s own brain down there, neuronal cells and decision-making and more. When you coat the intestine with flour, you’re an idiot. When you feed this paste to your kids, you belong in jail, because the law is clear that knowingly feeding poison to a kid is a felony.
“Just a soda” — words of the super-idiots.
I weigh the same as I did 40 years ago, and can outperform a majority of humans 40 years younger than I. That’s not because I was born smart, it’s because I’m brilliant enough to shut up and imitate people who are smarter than I am, people who do something better than I’ve been doing it. We can get our info from the horse’s mouth, or we can get caught at the wrong end of the horse.
Many movies have product placements hidden in them. We did the opposite. Our ads (www.1xx4.com) has master secrets of the universe hidden right in plain sight within the ads, so that even kids can learn.
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Ultimately, proof is better than opinion, proof is better than belief. Learn the one-second test and enrich your life, because our opinion here in my labs and clinics is very firm that you cannot learn less about anything.
Eating meat, flour, sugar? We mean to LOVINGLY insult you. These things are not food, so it’s purely stupid to put them into the body and think we won’t pay the price.
At http://www.QRA.me, http://www.Shapetalk.com, and 2,387 other totally free websites, we share the most powerfully useful information we have gleaned and gained from thousands of masters and millionaires, champions and billionaires. These sites exist to help you to help yourself and those you care for. No need for payment or emails or even thank-you’s, only a need for you to even up the very uneven playing field of life.
We can all do this by learning more…. that we might live more, living stronger for longer…. in hope we might give more, helping the helpless.
Last, not least, we’ve hired some college kids to scour the internet looking for intelligent people having intelligent discussions. http://www.ChrissKresser.com is one of their earliest finds, and it’s a treasure, one we hope you’ll approve of our promoting a bit.
Not only for the info that Chris provides in such articulate fashion, but as well for the comments some mighty bright people are posting here, we offer a heartfelt “Thank You.”
Mr Jinxx, Unbelievable that you left your water running like that. What a terrible waste.
You better read ‘The Vegetarian Myth’…
More comments
If asparagus makes your pee smell… some folks think that is a sign of defective methylation. You might want to do 23andMe and genetic testing or have separate lab work to check you MTHFR results. Knowing your particular genetic weakness is a good way to learn to be preventative and hopefully avoid having those defective genes express themselves. It’s not just germs, not just genes and not just environmental it is all of those factors mixed with so many more factors of faith, providence and the power of the mind.
Also another tip, while it is very admirable to clean juicing equipment promptly- Drink the juice FIRST, then clean the equipment. I usually dismantle quickly and let the parts soak in the sink and then drink my first small glass of juice cut 25 to 50% with water and then promptly put the remainder of juice in canning (ball) jars pressing out most all the air Then I clean my juicer (Omega 8006). http://www.omegajuicers.com/juicers/juicer-8006.html
I just veggie juice with tiny amounts of Carrot and beet because of their sweetness. I’m juicing for my health so I really recommend straight green veggies But if your system handles sugars it’s fine to add them only check out how long to store with mixing both fruit and veggies and don’t ruin something that is supposed to be healthy by adding too much Straight fruit juice is way too much of a sugar hit for anyone. Plain straight green veggie only juice is even too much of a sugar hit for most people. Try just veggies first. Juicing is best for fast assimilation of nutrients when someone is not well. Also rotate your veggies if you juice often,
To learn about juicing check out these articles on Curezone
Fresh Vegetable Juices
http://www.curezone.org/foods/juices.asp
And a blog on Curezone called, Juicing 101
http://www.curezone.org/blogs/fm.asp?i=967703#i
If you want fruit and veggie drinks check out
Green Smoothies read Green for Life and listen to
Green Smoothie Power with Sergei Boutenko on You Tube:
A very good video on Green Smoothie Drinks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqHRxr4a2-o
The fiber in the smoothies helps with the sugar hit.
Oh yes and still remember to
—“Chew your liquids and drink your food.”—
Health begins in your mouth with how you chew.
So chew…a lot!
Our bodies don’t transform K1 into K2 in any substantial amount (or useful form). That is why K2 supplementation has a noticeably positive effect on cardiovascular health while K1 does not. The studies mentioned by the article make that very clear. You can’t get K2 from vegan sources alone (aside from natto), regardless of whether or not you juice dark leafy greens.
Try mercolas starter culture for fermented vegetables, they are an excellent source of k2 and probiotics.
The diet you just dicribed if perfect for blood type A, but for blood type O, we need the organic beef to feel better and be healthy along with all the other you mentioned.
The China Study has been misrepresented by so many people. The researcher drew his conclusions from trials of casein protein (extracted from milk, so, not a whole food) on rats IIRC, and then some of them were exposed to mold toxins. You can’t extrapolate from that that all animal foods are harmful. It makes more sense to look back at our evolutionary history to discover the biologically appropriate human diet. Veganism is not it.
can onlyget K1 from your juice. K2 comes through fermentation, like fermented cabbage, sauerkraut. Dont know how much K2 is in sauerkraut
I’m a neophyte to the topic of vitamin K2, but finding it enormously interesting. Am now embarking on fermentation beyond simple yoghurt – starting with kefir and vegetables. Love the idea that we can get K2 from everyday pleasures, like gardening in good dirt, plus eating yummy stinky cheese and tart milk!!
As I presently understand it, there are different varieties of K2, depending on the food. There’s MK-1 from plants, and MK-4 from animal products like eggs, chicken breast, offal, etc. But we can also get different MK-n variants from fermented foods, depending on the particular fermentation bacteria – each possibly with its own nutritional benefit.
Is that how you understand it?
Best
I drink plain Lifeway Kefir instead of yogurt. Does kefir have the same Vitamin K2 benefits as yogurt?
Yes, kefir is a fermented product with beneficial nutrients including vitamin k2. I believe Chris Kressor wrote an article on this.
Lifeway lies about their products. Google it. A woman that sold them milk said her milk was NOT free of antibiotics and NOT fed grass as the main feed. She told Lifeway but they still labeled the kefir as free of all that. Her friends also supplied them and said the same. Then Lifeway dropped her. I won’t touch them now. There are better ones like Nancy’s and Green Valley, well in my opinion. More honest.
It sounds like your friend was the dishonest one and Lifeway did the right thing by dropping them.
Update on vitamin K2 content of fermented dairy:
Data on vitamin K2 is a moving target. From the year 2000 until 2013 the vitamin K2 content of vitamin K2 from fermentation was widely considered to be negligible based based on a single sample in a study of K2 content of foods by Schurgers et al, Netherlands. It is a fact, however, that all lactose fermenting bacteria must produce vitamin K2 to survive as it acts as an essential electron transfer agent in their respiratory chain. A recent (2013) study by Manoury of France found the median content of vitamin K2, subtype MK5 to MK10 of 21 samples of “mesophillic fermented milk” (yogurt) was 12 mcg/100 grams or 12 times that previously estimated. The MK-4 content of fermented milk is about 1 mcg/100 grams which brings total vitamin K2 content of fermented milk to 13 mcg/100 grams which equates to about 21 mcg/100 calories.
The 2000 Schurgers study gave the fermentation derived vitamin K2 content of cheeses as follows: hard cheese 72, mcg/100 grams, soft cheese 52, mcg/100 grams, and curd cheese. 25 mcg/100 grams. In contrast, the median fermentation derived vitamin K2 content of 62 samples of cheese in the subject Manaury study was much lower, 26 mcg/100 grams. The median MK-4 content of cheese is 6 mcg/100 which brings total vitamin K2 content of cheese to 32 mcg/100 grams which equates to 8 mcg/100 calories compared to 21 mcg/100 calories in fermented milk. (PMID: 23332840) So the vitamin K2 content of yogurt on a per calorie basis is about 2.5 greater than the average K2 content of cheese.
The vitamin k2 subtypes produced by fermentation, MK-5 to MK-10, have longer side-chains and are more lipid soluble than “short chain” MK-4 and are therefor more bio-available and have been found to more effectively activate osteocalcin than MK-4 found in animal fats. MK-4 has a poor bio-availability in humans and is undetectable at a nutritional level dose (45–90 μg/day), whereas long chain MK-7 is well absorbed and detectable in the blood at nutritional levels. Because all vitamin K subtypes, including MK-1 from green plants and MK-8 and MK-9 from lactose fermentation, can be converted to MK-4 in vivo, MK-4 is thought to have specific functions other than γ-carboxylation of vitamin K-dependent proteins. In rats, “long chain” MK-n from fermented foods has been found to be a better supplier for MK-4 in vivo than MK-4 itself. (PMID 23140417). Thus the long chain MK-7 from natto and the MK-8 and MK-9 from lactose fermentation appear to be superior in function to MK-4 from animal fats.
Thanks. Are there studies of fermented greens? I don’t do any dairy.
Vitamin K2 is not sensitive to heat, so K2 is not damaged by pasteurization. As for studies on the K2 content of fermented greens, it has been determined that sauerkraut contains a small amount of vitamin K2 mostly from fermentation. Other than that, I am not aware of any studies concerning the vitamin K2 content of fermented greens. Natto, a fermented soy product that is consumed in some parts of Japan, contains more vitamin K2 than any other food, mostly subtype MK-7. MK-7 has been extensively studied and, like MK-8 and MK-9 from lactose fermentation, is more effective than MK-4 from animal fats in activating vitamin K dependent proteins.
There are several recent studies that found that those who consumed fermented dairy, compared to those who consumed no fermented dairy, had significantly reduced risk of mortality and bone fracture. (PMID 25352269), significantly reduced incidence of heart attacks (PMID 23173172), and significantly reduced incidence of type 2 diabetes (PMID 22760573). The first two of these were conducted in Sweden while the third study was done in eight European countries including Sweden.
In the first of the studies, in which 61,433 women followed for 20.1 years, there was an inverse association between intake of cheese and fermented milk products and risk of fracture rates and total mortality. For each serving of fermented yogurt or cheese the rate of fractures and mortality was reduced by 10 to 15%. Consumption of fermented milk products (soured milk and yogurt) indicated a negative relation with both oxidative stress and inflammatory markers.
In sharp contrast, a positive association between non-fermented milk intake and total mortality as well as fracture, especially hip fracture was observed. In women, higher rates were observed for death from all causes (adjusted hazard ratio 1.15, for each glass of milk), cardiovascular disease (1.15 for each glass of milk, and cancer (1.07 for each glass of milk). For women who consumed three or more glasses of milk a day the hazard ratio for any fracture was 1.16 and for hip fracture was 1.60. In a group of 45,339 men with a follow-up of 11.2 years, the excess risk was less pronounced than in women.
In summary the study showed that consuming fermented dairy decreased mortality and fracture rates while consuming non-fermented dairy increased mortality and fracture rates. The authors made no mention of vitamin K2 as a possible cause of of the benefits experienced by the fermented dairy consumers and frankly their explanation made no sense. In my opinion, the reduction in mortality rates among those who consumed fermented dairy compared to those who did not was clearly driven mainly by the vitamin K2 from lactose fermentation. I have no idea why those who consumed non-fermented milk, compared to those who consumed no non-fermented milk, experience increased risk of mortality and fracture.
It appears that those who “don’t do dairy” really miss out on significant health benefits that are provided by fermented yogurt and cheese.
Well, I would love to eat fermented dairy but have autoimmune issues and am somewhat afraid that the kasein and growth factors in dairy will trigger this. What’s your take on that? The kasein and other stuff don’t go away because of fermentation, right?
Caroline Michelle,
Actually, beta-casomorphin-7 (the “milk devil”), growth factors, and lactose are all degraded by lactose fermentation so the problems do go away while the the beneficial “long chain” vitamin K2 is synthesized. I will post supporting data later.
The lactose in yogurt is digested more efficiently than other dairy sources of lactose because the bacteria inherent in yogurt assist with its digestion. The bacterial lactase survives the acidic conditions of the stomach, apparently being physically protected within the bacterial cells and facilitated by the buffering capacity of yogurt. Yogurt also contains more vitamin K2 per calorie than cheese. The synthesis of vitamin K2 in lactose fermentation does not require the presence of fat, but vitamin K2 is a fat soluble vitamin and is absorbed far better from full fat yogurt compared to low fat yogurt. The best yogurt is full-fat yogurt made from pastured animals that contains no additives. Almost all yogurt in the US has been described as “junk food” because it is non fat or low fat and contains sugar and additives such as carrageenan and dried milk solids in an effort to make it taste better. I believe that most yogurt available in Sweden is full fat without additives. Yogurt is very easy to make.
Thanks again for useful information! We actually have a lot of junk yogurt in Sweden too, with sugars and other stuff. I made my own yogurt from high fat milk, non homogenized (but pasteurized though…). How long time does it take before all the bad things (kasein, lactose etc) are removed from the milk/yogurt – is is already when the consistency has turned more solid? And what happens with these bad guys – are they consumed by the bacterias?
Caroline Michelle, you are mixing things up. First off, casein and lactose don’t get removed during fermentation. Casein is a milk protein and it stays in the milk/yogurt but it could be harmful if it comes from A1 cows (Holstein and Friesian) which produce A1 beta casein. There is a peptide of string of seven amino acids in it called beta-casomorphin-7 or BCM-7 and has opioid properties. It could be a major reason of triggering various ill effects in humans. Lactose on the other hand is a carbohydrate and it doesn’t go away during milk fermentation but it gets converted into lactic acid. It’s been shown that people who lack the enzyme lactase which breaks down the naturally occurring sugar lactose can safely digest fermented milk products such as yogurt because of the reduced lactose. In summary, these are two completely different macronutrients which people often confuse when it comes to tolerating consumption of dairy products.
dairy, even fermented, still triggers asthma and creates other issues for me. I quit dairy long before going vegan for that reason, even though I enjoyed home made yogurt and cheese quite a lot, the truth was it affected my health very negatively. dairy is likely why i had recurring tonsilitis for years of my youth prior to their removal, and continued to cause ear infections and other issues. fermented dairy doesn’t change any of this, nor does it drastically reduce the phlegm production and issues in my joints or other auto-immune responses.
people who don’t dairy don’t necessarily miss out, since plenty of other things can be lactobacilli (or other) fermented, and soy in particular creates all sorts of K2, notably in natto, but in other fermented forms, too, including soy yogurt, which as you said, is quite easy to make. but natto is a good choice, especially for enzymes, too, not just K2, though making it is not entry-level fermenting, and finding fresh natto may or may not be so easy to do, in part due to locale.
by the way, a few posts up you said yogurt as an explanation of mesophillic fermented dairy, and while some heritage yogurt cultures (dairy or non-dairy) are mesophillic, the majority of them are thermophillic. dairy/ milk kefir grains, however, are mesophillic dairy cultures. some of the scandanavian heirloom yogurt cultures are notable exceptions to thermophillic yogurt cultures. (I have personally managed to get home made yogurt cultures created from home grown dehydrator dried chili pepper stems to work both as mesophillic and thermophillic, and I know the chili stems and other non-commercial culture starters work with dairy as well).
I cannot enjoy dairy yogurt without swollen tonsils / sore throat every time, which is same as if i have dairy chocolate, butter, gelatine, or beef. If there is known allergy to milk / beef protein, I am not certain that the “problems will go away” ENOUGH, to not cause a reaction to consuming dairy for K2. 🙁
Hey Julielu,
It’s my understanding, (from the few research papers I could find!), that if you ferment milk with Kefir grains,(ABSOLUTELY NOT YOGHURT), that the proteins get broken down into their component aminos, so the allergy to the problem molecule ceases to exist as that molecule is degraded by the bacterial digestion process. I would always recommend anyone with allergies like myself, to do a second ferment of at least 24 hours. I have had no problems thus far.
I would not attempt it if you are likely to have a life-threatening reaction, however if you have ‘nuisance’ symptoms, it’s up to you if you’d like to try it or not.
Please only use kefir for that, I’m led to believe that the yoghurts don’t have enough variation in the bacterial spectrum to effectively blast apart all the proteins. I soak all my gluten flours in kefir as well, and have had no sign of my gluten problems or my dairy issues.
I do use a2 milk, more to preserve the original a2 producing cows, as the protein gets blasted down anyways.
It’s actually easier for your body to digest these protein builder aminos in reduced form, anyway.
Do you eat any type of grain ? then remove it frome your diet. . . Just my experince i have hade skin problems for 5 years now & BOOM my skin has cleard up from removing the GMO Grains & Organic grains r a no no too + no sugar too + you need to up you Glutathion & SOD = superoxide dismutase 🙂
If the fermenting bacteria in sauerkraut produce K2 feeding on cabbage which is relatively low in ‘greens’ value, perhaps it is a logical jump to try making sauerkraut including outer darker leaves of cabbage and or kale, spinach. I have noticed an increasing strength of fingernails over the past 12 months of just using vinegar Kombucha daily on my salad and wonder whether the lactic bacteria are producing K2 even in kombucha?.
Having realised a likely K2 deficiency from 30 + years of Pritikin and low fat and no beef /dairy diets and having had many very slow to heal joint injuries – tendons& ligaments of the knees, shoulders, fingers – as well as multitudes of dental caries >50, it’s beginning to make sense that my body has been deprived of the fat soluble vitamins that until recently have received little exposure.
Jack, you clearly know your stuff! Thank you for your thoughtful posts. I particularly appreciate you providing the Pubmed IDs. If you have time please drop me a line at orohound at gmail (don’t want to type out the actual e-mail here). I’d love to share references to nutrition literature.
What is your source for this info:
Vitamin K2 is not sensitive to heat, so K2 is not damaged by pasteurization. I make my own natto and have always wondered if heat compromised the K2.
Your statement that “yogurt contains vitami K2 is wrong! By definition (Websters), yogurt is made from thermophilic bacteria (optimum temperature 100 to 122 degrees F) which is NOT known to produce vitamin K2. In contrast, the vast majority of hundreds of different types of fermented milk from around the world do produce vitamin K2 as they are made from mesophilic bacteria (optimum temperture 77 to 86 degrees F). Only “yogurt” and a few uncommon cheeses are made with thermophilic bacteria that do not synthesize vitamin k2. While “yogurt” may have many beneficial properties, vitamin K2 content is not among them.
In the Manaury study, the 21 samples of “mosophilic fermented milk” did not include yogurt which is made from thermophilic bacteria. A quote from the study:
“Eight fermented dairy products did not contain detectable amounts of vitamin K2: 5 TFM (TFM1 to TFM5), 2 Comté cheeses (HardC-Co1 and HardC-Co2), and 1 Mozzarella cheese (Mozz). Similarities in cheese process explain this absence of vitamin K2. For these types of products, usually only thermophilic species (Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Bifidobacterium) are used as lactic acid bacteria starter (Fox et al., 2000), and those thermophilic species are not known to be vitamin K2 producers (Collins and Jones, 1981; Morishita et al., 1999). This is also the case for a yogurt-type product also made with pure thermophilic species (Hirauchi et al., 1989; Koivu-Tikkanen et al., 2000).All other fermented dairy products evaluated in this study contained some vitamin K2; 60% of the products had >100 ng/g, a high value for animal products (Koivu-Tikkanen et al., 2000). All of those products contained mesophilic lactic acid bacteria species as starters and especially Lactococcus spp., which are reported to be the source of vitamin K2 (Collins and Jones, 1981; Morishita et al., 1999).” http://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(13)00034-9/fulltext:
Check it out!
thanks @Willy – found your comment and link to the study very informative!
Willy, yogurt does content vitamin K2! The amount may not be significant but it’s there. I just ran a lab test of my grassfed yogurt. So your statement that the statement “yogurt contains vitamin K2 is wrong!” is wrong.
Slight niggle: Yogurt is not a mesophilic fermentation, it’s considered thermophilic since it’s mostly done over 40C.
Actually, there are mesophilic yogurt cultures, such as Matsoni, so it’s not wise to generalize about all yogurt cultures.
Are vitamin K2 sensitive to heat? I love liver but never tried it raw, might be a new experience though. Cheers from Sweden
There is a wealth of peer reviewed articles available online pertaining to all forms of Vitamin K and the wide spectrum of health benefits. Some are open access and some require a payment or subscription to procure. The latter usually have an informative abstract that is available free. Given the abundance of information available it is a shame that some of those who post haven’t “done their homework”.
http://www.k-vitamins.com offers lots of summaries on K and its health benefits on several different areas.
Sudy showing the benefits pf K2-MQ7 to Cardiovascular Health
NattoPharma is excited to share that the study proving MenaQ7 Vitamin K2´s cardiovascular benefits has published in the prestigious medical journal Thrombosis and Haemostasis (online ahead print).
In the study titled “Menaquinone-7 Supplementation Improves Arterial Stiffness in Healthy Postmenopausal Women”:
• 244 healthy post-menopausal women were randomly assigned to take 180 mcg of MenaQ7 daily for 3 years, or placebo capsules.
• 93% of the participants completed the 3-year study.
• Results confirm that MenaQ7 Vitamin K2 supplementation not only inhibits age-related stiffening of the artery walls, but also made a statistically significant improvement of vascular elasticity.
“This is the first study showing that long-term use of vitamin K2 in the form of MK-7 beneficially affects cardiovascular health,” says Cees Vermeer, renowned vitamin K2 scientist and Chief Innovation Officer at the R&D Group VitaK of the Maastricht University Holding (the Netherlands), who led the study’s research team.
This is the same cohort that participated in the study proving MenaQ7’s bone benefits that published in Osteoporosis International in 2013.
“Observing changes in heart and bone health takes time,” says Hogne Vik, NattoPharma CEO. “Our patience and perseverance has paid off with a study accepted by a highly prestigious medical journal that proves what we have known all along: that MenaQ7 Vitamin K2 truly delivers benefits for hearts and bones.”
With this important publication in place, the overall market for MenaQ7 Vitamin K2 continues to expand, as solid proof of our product´s heart benefits are confirmed.
To review the study online prior to its publication in the May 2015 issue of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, click here . For more information on MenaQ7® Vitamin K2, visit menaq7.com
I’m interested for my wife in the thrombosis issue but could not ” click here ” ?
I don’t get how this vitamin isn’t found typically in U.S. diets when the foods listed are some of our most commonly consumed.
My guess, it’s the same for why US commercial butter (dairy) not being a good source. Most cattle, poultry, etc. in US are raised in Contained Animal Feedlots (CAFO’s). Cows, evolved to eat grasses are fed cheap subsidized corn & soy, (causes infections & requiring antibiotics) to fatten & bring to slaughter in half the time, compromises/changes the final product (i.e. Butter, cheese, meats, etc). Just my guess tho.
See Comparison of menaquinone-4 and menaquinone-7 bioavailability in healthy women, its an open access article and may help those who are undecided to make the right choice.
I started taking K2 150mcg about a month ago, about 2 weeks ago I developed horrible heart palpitations. I had an EKG which was fine, I’m reading a lot about this vitamin causing heart issues. I stopped taking it 3 days ago, does anybody know how long this will take to get out of my system ?
Pat ,
You have made the same mistake many people here do, and that is calling it, K2, what you took is K2 MK-7,..and you took TOO Much,.
Take K2 MK -4…which takes the calcium to your bones, and Not you Arteries..it only has a shelve life of about 4 hours …
There are a few types of K, so we all have to be more pacific about what K you talking about…???
That said, K2 MK-7 stay in the body allot longer, and take a small amount, maybe every coupe of days. It can speed up you heart rate & some people cannot take it…I for one..
Pat if you read more posts here , I have said this before…
Take care..
pls reference your information.. i have yet to see a distinction between fermented product k2-m7 and animal fat k2-m4 with respect to their use in the human body
? mk-4 shelf life 4 hours ? unlikely. Its reported to have ashort life in human body.
mk-7_how does it speed up heart rate? Or why do you day that. ?
did u mean to imply that mk-7 takes calcium to arteries and that mk -4 does not. i cant verify that.
MK-7 takes calcium FROM arteries to the bones just like MK-4 does. However MK-7 dosages are much lower (around 100 mcg / day) than MK-4 (used for ostheoporosis up to 45 mg /day in three divided doses) since MK-7’s half life is much longer (days) than MK-4 (a few hours).
“shelf life” and “pacific” ? These two major errors made me doubt the rest of your entire post I’m afraid. I think you were going for “half life” and “specific”.
K2 (MK-7) lasts for about 3 days in the body.
And MK-Ultra? What about mind-controlled vitamins? 😀
<3
what sort of K2 did u take? Mk-4? or Mk-7? , a combination ?
I suggest you not to take any vitamins. For example most of the vitamin D sold comes from lanolin.It is a residual product derived from washing the sheep wool. God knows from which dodgy sources they produce K2. These days any crap is well packed and backed by a ” scientific research”.
My suggestion is to grow your own food or by from local organic producers. In UK for example lots of people living in the country side have 5-6 chickens around the house roaming freely providing fresh egg on a daily basis.
Hi Chris, I was taking a combination of K2, vit E drops and Vit D and also my normal fish oil and pro- biotics, I started taking them as my younger brother had open heart surgery for blocked arteries on left side of his heart and was told it was hereditary. I started to have really bad panic attacks as soon as I lay down at night with tremors and sweats and no sleep this continued every night till I stopped taking them, wondering if you know which of these it would be or the combination. Thanking you for your time Beth
Why are you asking Chris Kresser? Go see a doctor!
…they may not recommend supplements, but they DO understand biochemistry…
I almost want to laugh when people complain of panic attacks, heart palpitations, nausea etc.etc. if people really went around all the forums they would find their answers. The problem is everyone thinks MK-7 is better because it stays in the body longer and I think this has been hyped up so much that so many people are buying it. Almost every seller on Amazon is selling it, and it is MK-7 that is causing all these problems to certain people, including teeth going brown, etc.etc. Like a few of the viewers have stated, to avoid these problems you need to be taking MK-4 !! Look around, research, you will find so many complaints of people calling ambulances, rushing to a and e with suspected heart attacks and frightened out of their life, it is the KM-7 causing most of it. I hope this is of help. Rosina Lock
so Mk7 is not the right one to take. how much mk4 should you take. trying to reduce bp and get of the meds.
I was a big fan of mk7/natto before myself. However I did further research on natto and now remain inconclusive. Natto is extremely high in vitamin k2, yet it does the reversal effect too by thinning the blood. Vitamin e thins the blood and many state you should not take it orally. So the combination of both blood thinners could theoretically cause heart issues.
Stop vitamin e and mk7. Stick to mk4. If you cannot handle it then only use natural sources. The cheeses are the best; make sure you always have any with fats anyways. It’s possible you did not consume your supplements with fats and negative consequences are the byproduct.
Vitamin e; have extra virgin olive oil, palm oil, etc.
Try as little supplementation as possible and try and get nutrients from foods.
It should also be noted, you can find endless websites warning of vitamin d overdose. In excess it can cause calcium to be displaced in the arteries and cause all of these problems mentioned. It is difficult to conclude the amount needed for a person. Vitamin d2 is the worst from all studies. Other studies seem to point that low vitamin a can cause vitamin d to not be absorbed probably; same with low magnesium. In this case I wonder if it simply just messes your calcium levels instead of its normal function?
So many things we don’t know. So many make themselves human guinea pigs, yet rely on internet strangers solely for help. Learn critical analysis on your own and try your best.
also see
Structure, Absorption and Functions of Soyasaponins and Vitamin K2(Menaquinone-7)
Toshiro Sato
*
and Shuichi Kamo
Fine Chemical Laboratory, J-OIL MILLS, Inc., Nakashinden 1746, Fukuroi-city, Shizuoka 437-1111
Soyasaponins: Soyasaponins are triterpene glycosides that possess an oleanane-type aglycone with 1 or 2
polysaccharide chains. Due to differences in the aglycone compounds, soyasaponins are mainly classified as group A
or B soyasaponins. Soyasaponins, especially group B soyasaponins, have been reported to have several physiological functions such as antioxidative, cholesterol-lowering, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, renin-inhibiting, hepatoprotective, and antitumor effects. We found that group B soyasaponins are more readily absorbed than group A soyasaponins, which may explainwhy group B soyasaponins exhibit more potent effects.
Vitamin K2 : Vitamin K is a cofactor required for post-translational gamma-carboxylation of vitamin K-dependent proteins, including coagulation factors, anti-coagulation factors, osteocalcin (OC) in bone, and matrix Gla proteins (MGP) in arteries. Among major vitamin K homologues in foods, only vitamin K2as menaquinone-7 (MK-7) can activate osteocalcin, which modulates bone structure at nutritional doses. Vitamin K2 also induces collagen accumulation in bone, contributing to bone quality and strength. In addition, MK-7 activates MGP, an artery
calcification inhibitor, and is reported to be associated with the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. The higher
efficacy of MK-7 compared to other vitamin K homologues is due to the better absorption and longer half-life of MK-7.
（Accepted Mar. 6, 2013
Can anyone kindly tell me if the k2 is preserved in Natto after it has been frozen. My local Asian Market carries Natto in the freezer. Thank you!
I received the following email from the leading authority on K2.
“In contrast to some other vitamins, vitamin K2 is very stable. It is very well conserved by freezing. We keep our samples frozen for years, and there is no loss of MK-7. The only precaution you have to take is to prevent long exposure to daylight. All K vitamins are sensitive to UV radiation.
So you did exactly the right thing. Natto is so rich in MK-7 that it does not make sense to combine natto eating with an MK-7 supplement. Just as an illustration: most supplements contain 45 micrograms of MK-7. This amount is also reached by eating 4 or 5 grams of natto.
If you get accustomed to the taste of natto, this is the cheapest way of getting MK-7 in significant amounts. I recommend a daily dose between 200 and 400 micrograms of MK-7 for healthy subjects. Patients may require more. And if you receive blood thinning medication you should consult your medical doctor before taking vitamin K at all.
With kind regards,
Cees
CEES VERMEER, PhD, Associate Professor of Biochemistry
CEO
Where are you located Cees? Have you ever been to Toronto ON?
Thank you very much for the information!
See
The Antiosteoporotic Effects ofCheonggukjangContaining Vitamin K2
( Menaquinone-7) in Ovariectomized Rats
Wei-Jie Wu,1,
*Hwa-Young Lee,
2,
*Geum-Hwa Lee,
2
Han-Jung Chae,
2
and Byung-Yong Ahn
3
1
Department of Food Science & Biotechnology, Chonbuk National University, Iksan, Korea.
2
Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Cardiovascular Research, School of Medicine,
Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Korea.
3
Department of Oriental Medicine Resources, Chonbuk National University, Iksan, Korea.
ABSTRACT The effect of dietary vitamin K2 (menaquinone-7, MK-7) and cheonggukjang(CGJ) on the prevention of
ovariectomy (OVX)-induced bone loss was studied in rats. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into eight groups: sham-operated; OVX control; OVX treated with MK-7 at doses of 2, 4, and 8lg/day; and OVX treated with CGJ at doses of 0.063,
0.125, and 0.250 g/day referenced to MK-7 levels at 2, 4, and 8lg/day, respectively. After 8 weeks of treatment, the
preventive effects of MK-7 and CGJ were evaluated by measuring body weights, serum levels of bone turnover markers, bone
mineral content (BMC), bone mineral density (BMD), trabecular microarchitectural properties, and bone histological char-acteristics. Our results showed that rats treated with a high dose of MK-7 (8lg/day) exhibited a minor inhibitory effect on
OVX-induced bone loss, as indicated by a significant increase in trabecular number, as well as BMC and BMD (P<.01).
Moreover, the preventive effects of MK-7 were augmented by administration of CGJ at the same MK-7 dose. In addition, the
preventive effects of CGJ were shown to be dose dependent, with the highest dose (0.250 g/day) significantly (P<.01)
increasing BMC and BMD by 31.8% and 47.6%, respectively. In summary, these results suggest that administration of CGJ
containing abundant levels of MK-7 may be a promising approach for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis.
Menaquinone-7 contains seven isoprene units and is abundant in fermented Asian soybeans, such as natto in Japan and cheonggukjang (CGJ) in Korea.
A previous study has
shown that habitual intake ofnattocontaining abundant levels
of MK-7 was beneficial for bone health in elderly men.
Likewise, higher levels of MK-7 resulting from natto consumption may contribute to a relatively lower risk of fractures in Japanese women.
Bone loss in ovariectomized (OVX)
rats has been shown to be prevented by diets containing natto supplemented with MK-7, and prolonged intake of dietary natto, including MK-7, has further preventive effects.
i also have hipothyroidism and problems with obesity
Hi – Endocrinologist Dr. Diana Schwarzbein says this on page 50-51 of her book The Schwarzbein Principle: Because the action of the thyroid hormones (there are 10 of them) is to utilize proteins, to protect against malnourishment, your body will decrease thyroid production when you are not eating enough food (chronic dieting) or are eating an imbalanced diet (too much sugar, carbs, caffeine, etc). Also, when your body is functioning properly, it converts the thyroid hormone T4 into T3, which tells the cells what to do. If your body perceives it is under stress from actual stress, an imbalanced diet, etc, the T4 is converted into “reverse T3” & the symptoms are: overweight, cold, tired, achy, constipated, hair loss, depression (page 44, The Schwarzbein Principle II). The only way to heal this is to modify your diet to make it more balanced with the proper amounts of protein, healthy fats, non-starchy vegetables (preferably organic) and gluten-free carbs, get enough sleep & heal your gut if you have “leaky gut”. Please understand that your body converts sugar, carbs, caffeine, etc into FAT – specifically, triglycerides, “bad” cholesterol, glycogen & energy for immediate use.
i have problems with a big bone spur in my right foot, tiny ones in my shoulder and spine. i’m 68 i got today the k-2 mk-7 and apple cider vinegar in capsules to dissolve the bone spurs and to re-direct the calcium to the right places
coco,
Buy K2 MK-4. It has a short shelve life. Take it with a little healthy fat, about 2 times aday..
That will take the calcium to your bones and not your arteries.
For bone spurs, buy the vitamin, “Acid A Cal” Amazon sells it and it work..Its only about 10.00.
For Obesity, Read, “Wheat Belly” Dr. William Daves..
Don’t eat , Processed foods, wheat except Einkorn, no fast foods, No Sugar, NO Diet soda, or any soda.
Walk your ass off..
Good Luck..
Coco, how has the supplement program been working? Did you continue with the K2 _Mk-7 natural extract with the cider vinegar? Have the bone spurs reduced or become less painful?
I have hyperparathyroidism and high calcium levels, I have had this condition for years and will have a parathyroidectomy soon. I have a lot of calcium deposits, some in arteries. I am having difficulty getting K2 from dietary sources. Would the Green Pastures buttermilk/cod liver oil be a good supplement for me, or would you have another recommendation or recommendations for me?
Koncentrated K has a capsule with high doses of three types of vitamin K. You might try that..
http://www.k-vitamins.com
However, while very few people have a K1 deficiency or we would bleed to death, for K2, the MK-7 version is, by far, the most important and effective as it lasts in the body for about 3 days, where MK-4 lasts for a few hours and is required in doses about a thousand times higher than MK-7.
You have to take MK-4 three times a day to get much effect and then at doses of 15 mg three times a day.
Where published dose-comparison data show that 180 mcg (one-thousandth of a mg) of MK-7 is highly effective in directing calcium away from artery walls and can be taken once a day.
You’ll get plenty of K1, which has little to no effect on protecting arteries, from green vegies.
You get K4 from meat fat.
It’s the MK-7 that Americans are grossly deficient in, because 95% of our dairy fats is grain-fed, where pasture-raised, grass-fed dairy fats, like they have in France, Holland and many other countries has as much as 50 times more MK-7.
Their cheeses and butters give them lots of MK-7, which is one reason that they have much lower cardiovascular disease than Americans.
I’m referring to vitamin K2 (MK-7) and (MK-4).
How high?
You need to mention what K your referring too!!!
*you’re
Hi Joan. In addition to K2, also look into boron defficiency, as boron balances and fuels the parathyroid glands. Boron is in most organic vegetables and fruit, but depending on where you are in the world the soils can be defficient so we aren’t getting what we need. Boron can be the cause of arthritis, heart and bone diseases as well as parathyroid diseases. You can take it in capsule form at 3mg daily or directly and more inexpensively from small doses of pure borax, though you’d have to research that as I’m not sure how much you would have to take.
Hi, The doctors thought I had a hyperparathyroid problem a few years back, but I was just consuming too much calcium. Dr. Dwight Lundell says overconsumption of simple, highly-processed carbs like sugar & grains causes our blood sugar level to be too high, which is like rubbing a stiff brush repeatedly over soft skin (the inside of our arteries) & the “scab” that develops to protect the inflammed artery walls is plaque. Which is comprised of 50% calcium, 47% fibrin & 3% “bad” cholesterol. Endocrinologist Dr. Joe Prendergast in Palo Alto, CA has been successful reducing plaque with L-arginine & vitamin D3 – they both help regulate inflammation & the vitamin D3 helps manage calcium. By the way, calcium does absolutely NOTHING to help prevent or treat osteoporosis. The nutrients that help with that are vitamin D3, vitamin K & magnesium. Look for the Spring Edition 2012 newsletter from http://www.appleheathfoods.net in Redwood City.
The residual calcium deposits from Hyperparathyroidism are best handled by eating Natto. see these articles.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/19/vitamin-d-vitamin-k2.aspx
http://www.jafra.gr.jp/eng/sumi.html
http://www.smart-publications.com/articles/nattokinase-powerful-enzyme-prevents-heart-attack-and-stroke
Vitamin K2 mk7 moves calcium deposits from soft tissue to your bones where it is utilized to make new bone material. Be sure to pay close attention to the information about the Japanese having the lowest level of heart disease world wide.
Hi
I’m osteoporosis since a while and it’s not improving.
Can you help me please ?
I take some Calcit Vit D since a few years and Oestrogel wiht Utrogestan since a year.
I had Aclasta in 2012 when I broke my femur a little bit.
Sorry for my language, I’m French.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Increase your magneseium levels. Natural Calm drink and Magnesium oil are miracles. Google them, get them.
Don’t forget boron. Calcium and magnesium don’t get regulated and absorbed properly without it. Our soils can be very defficient.
Marion,
Take K2-Mk-4. It takes the calcium to your Bones and Not your Arteries..
D3 iu 5000 , but get it check. Your might be low, or 5000 is too high!!
Do not eat processed foods, No smoking, no sugar, no wheat, no fast foods, No soda, and too much coffee can rob your bones of calcium…there is allot more for osteo also..Drugs are not good for Osteo..
Marion,
Take K2-Mk-4. It takes the calcium to your Bones and Not your Arteries..
D3 iu 5000 , but get it check. Your might be low, or 5000 is too high!!
Do not eat processed foods,