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However, there is emerging evidence in human intervention studies that vitamin K(1) at a much lower dose may also benefit bone health, in particular when coadministered with vitamin D. Several mechanisms are suggested by which vitamin K can modulate bone metabolism. Besides the gamma-carboxylation of osteocalcin, a protein believed to be involved in bone mineralization, there is increasing evidence that vitamin K also positively affects calcium balance, a key mineral in bone metabolism. The Institute of Medicine recently has increased the dietary reference intakes of vitamin K to 90 microg/d for females and 120 microg/d for males, which is an increase of approximately 50% from previous recommendation.
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The predominant dietary form, phylloquinone or vitamin K1, is found in plants and green vegetables; whereas menaquinone, or vitamin K2, is endogenously synthesized by intestinal bacteria and includes several subtypes that differ in side chain length. Aside from its established role in blood clotting, several studies now support a critical function of vitamin K in improving bone health. Vitamin K is in fact required for osteocalcin carboxylation that in turn regulates bone mineral accretion; it seems to promote the transition of osteoblasts to osteocytes and also limits the process of osteoclastogenesis.
Several observational and interventional studies have examined the relationship between vitamin K and bone metabolism, but findings are conflicting and unclear.
Vitamin K And Osteoporosis
Ten touted as a way to strengthen bones, taking vitamin K for osteopenia does not protect postmenopausal women from age-related declines in bone density, a new study shows. The findings relating to fracture and cancer avoidance were “unexpected,” says Angela Cheung, MD, of Toronto’s University Health Network and lead author of the study.
“It is intriguing and gives us reason for additional research.”. The study, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, involved 440 postmenopausal women diagnosed with osteopenia, a “warning” condition of bone loss that can be a precursor to osteoporosis. The disease causes bones to become more fragile and likely to break.
Cheung says the women were either given a vitamin K supplement or a placebo for two years, with 261 continuing for two more years. “But fewer women over the four-year period had fractures, and fewer had cancer.
Introduction
Osteoblasts promote bone formation and osteoclasts stimulate bone resorption [1].
Numerous pathological processes have been shown to stimulate bone resorption and suppress bone formation, leading to bone loss. The most dramatic expression of the disease is represented by bone fractures. Nutritional factor vitamin K, a fat-soluble vitamin, has been suggested to prevent bone fracture with osteoporosis.
Vitamin K was originally identified as an essential cofactor for blood coagulation. Vitamin K is an essential in the posttranslational carboxylation of certain protein-bound glutamate residues of osteocalcin, which are converted into gamma (γ)-carboxy glutamate (Gla) by γ-carboxylase [6]. Osteocalcin is synthesized in osteobalsts.
These Gla residues form calcium-binding sites that are essential for the activity of the proteins. Mk-7 has been shown to reveal osteogenic effects due to stimulating posteoblastic bone formation and to inhibiting osteoclastic bone resorption. This review will discuss recent advances regarding to the action of MK-7 in bone homeostasis and the role of dietary MK-7 intake in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.