K2 For Your Health

I imagine if one of every three patients who walked through your door was afflicted with a debilitating, yet completely preventable and treatable disease.  Unfortunately, this isn’t just a dark fantasy, but a stark reality, as more than 100 million Americans suffer from preventable diseases such as osteoporosis, heart disease and diabetes.As a health care provider, your goal is to help your patients regain their health, but it isn’t always easy.  Sub-optimal diets, such as the Standard American Diet, (SAD), lead to various micro-nutrient deficiencies, which we often seek to address through supplementation.  For example, many of us recommend vitamin D and calcium for bone and heart health.  But what if there were more to the story?If you look on the label of many multivitamins, you’ll see vitamin K, but it will likely be in the form of K1, a form found in leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables.  What you won’t find is vitamin K2,  This form is found in organ meats from healthy animals; cheeses such as brie and gouda; and natto, a traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeansA number of recent studies have linked poor vitamin K2 status with osteoporosis and heart disease.  Studies on post-menopausal women have shown an inverse correlation between menaquinone intake and risk of cardiovascular calcification.Roughly 50 percent of Americans take supplemental calcium and 37 percent use supplemental vitamin D; and yet 10 million suffer from osteoporosis and another 44 million have low bone density, placing them at an increased risk of fracture.  Many people are deficient in vitamin D, which makes it hard to avoid supplementation; especially given the wide influence vitamin D has on human health.A considerable amount of research suggests K2 supplementation in at-risk populations may help reduce the risk of osteoporosis and heart disease.  A 2012 study that aimed to determine effective dosages, found doses above 300 mcg/day were the most beneficialHopefully by now you’ve realized the importance that vitamin K2 can play in skeletal and cardiovascular health, but the power of K2 doesn’t stop there.  Could vitamin K2 be your missing link in managing diabetes?  Does K2 play a role in male testosterone production?