Preventing heart Disease While Building Strong Bones

Senior Fitness Strategies - Preventing heart Disease While Building Strong Bones - By: Frank Wilhelmi


Stiff Arteries and Soft Bones - An Aging Dilemma Explained by Lack of Vitamin K2
There is an epidemic of Heart Disease (or Atherosclerosis) on one hand and Osteoporosis on the other throughout most of the western world. We supplement gobs of Calcium, only to have it taken up by plaque in our arteries and other soft tissues, while our bones drop in density as we age. One cause of this is proving to be a lack of a little understood vitamin - Vitamin K2. For those interested in lifetime fitness, this information can lead to a viable strategy for avoiding heart disease or osteoporosis.
In 1929, Danish scientist, Dr. Henrik Dam discovered vitamin K. The "K" is for Koagulation -- essential for proper blood clotting.* Vitamin K is unique because it acts like a hormone, but shows no toxicity in its natural form. Recent research is focusing on its potential other benefits beyond regulation of clotting of blood.
Research in the last decade suggests vitamin K plays a crucial role in many bodily functions. It may be a key vitamin to fight the signs of aging. Scientists are even looking at vitamin K to be the future of promoting immune health and supporting memory. With research now focusing on its potential effects on the brain, liver and pancreas, vitamin K is one of the most promising vitamins for maintaining peak health throughout the aging process.
Vitamin K exists in three forms, K1, K2, and K3. All are fat-soluble. This is important because dietary fat is necessary for the absorption of the vitamin -meaning that in order for your body to absorb it effectively, you need to eat some fat along with it. This implies that a ’no fat’ or even ’low fat’ diet will contribute to a deficiency of vitamin K.
Vitamin K1, or phylloquinone, is found naturally in plants. Vitamin K2, also called menaquinone, is made by the bacteria that line the gastrointestinal tract. Vitamin K3, or menadione is man-made and is generally regarded as toxic because it generates free radicals. Research shows that toxicity has occurred in infants given synthetic vitamin K3 by injection. Vitamin K2 works primarily outside of the liver in the bone and blood vessels to regulate the uptake of calcium and other minerals.
Unlike vitamin K1, vitamin K2 does not concentrate in the liver. The body stores only limited amounts of vitamin K in the liver, so vitamin rich foods must be consumed regularly. With only 10% absorption of vitamin K1 from vegetables, and only a small fraction of that converted to K2 by intestinal bacteria, and considering the importance of this vitamin, it’s reasonable to question if you’re getting enough.
Natural Sources -
The best natural source of vitamin K2 is derived from an ancient Japanese food called Natto. Natto is made from fermented soybeans and significant amounts of vitamin K2 are produced during the fermentation process.
Fermented foods, such as natto, typically have the highest concentration of vitamin K found in the human diet and can provide several milligrams of vitamin K2 on a daily basis. This level far exceeds the amount found in dark green vegetables. Since most Americans do not eat traditionally fermented foods like natto, adding them to your diet is a must as the health benefits are tremendous. It has also been reported that the sticky part of natto contains polyglutamin acid -- an acid that aids the absorption of calcium from the intestine.

Vitamin K2: Ushering Calcium Where It Belongs
Vitamin K2 provides major protection from osteoporosis, cardiovascular blockages and pathological calcification. Vitamin K’s job is to put calcium in the right places and keep it from being deposited in the wrong places. The right places are bones and blood, and the wrong places include calcification of the vessels, bone spurs and calcification of soft tissues.
Calcium has a ubiquitous role in health, impacting all the Syndrome X conditions, including obesity, blood pressure disorders, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and malfunctioning of cell signaling. Calcification of the arteries is a major known consequence of aging, as is the calcification of soft tissues and the accumulation of calcium within the cells.
Optimum calcium nutrition depends on the interplay of a number of related compounds, such as magnesium, vitamin D3, and vitamin K. Just recently, the importance of vitamin K in regulating the healthy function of calcium has been recognized. It has been shown that vitamin K2 can be supplemented in very high doses, as used in Japan. It has been found to be safe even at 45 mg or more per day - up to a thousand times greater than generally occurring in the daily diet. Even small amounts of vitamins K1 & K2, can have a great impact on overall health. Vitamin K1 and more importantly, vitamin K2, play critical roles in preventing arterial calcification, which is a risk factor in coronary artery disease, as well as other calcification conditions associated with aging.
Vitamin K was discovered in the 1920’s as a fat-soluble factor important in blood coagulation ("K" for koagulation). Vitamin K1 is found in plants and vitamin K2 is found in animals and bacteria, including beneficial probiotic bacteria, aka "good bacteria," from the GI tract. The body can store about a one-month supply of the vitamin. Please note that antibiotics interfere with the growth of healthy intestinal bacteria and as a result, impair vitamin K production. The prescription anticoagulant Warfarin also interferes with the metabolism and function of vitamin K by inhibiting critical enzymes that are involved with the production of coagulation factors. Without these coagulation factors, excessive bleeding can occur.
How this vitamin is involved in blood coagulation eluded scientists until 1974, when a requirement for vitamin K was shown for the formation of numerous proteins in the body known as gamma-carboxy glutamic acid (GCGA) proteins. These proteins, when modified, specifically bind to calcium which is important for blood coagulation, as well as other critical processes, and through which calcium regulation affects cartilage, bone, protein in blood, and very importantly, regulates the calcium in the cardiovascular system. It appears that the extra carboxyl group binds calcium so that it can be moved around.
The Role of GCGA Proteins
Vitamin K works by acting as a cofactor in the carboxylation (adding of a carboxyl group C02) via an enzyme (gamma glutamyl carboxylase), of glutamic acid (a specific amino acid) to form a modification of that amino acid (gamma carboxyglutamic acid) in a variety of critical plasma proteins. Without this step, these plasma proteins will not function in their role of the regulation of calcium concentrations in various tissues.
The primary types of GCGA proteins include: osteocalcin (OC), the most abundant GCGA protein in humans, synthesized in bone; the GCGA proteins involving blood coagulation factors are synthesized in the liver; the matrix GCGA proteins (MGP) are synthesized in the cartilage and in the vessel walls of arteries. 1
When vitamin K is in short supply in the body, these proteins are formed without the GCGA component and are inactive for their intended functions - which play important roles in four different tissue types including: 1) liver; 2) bone; 3) cartilage; and 4) arterial vessel walls.
These four tissues are all able to pull vitamin K from the blood. However, the uptake from the liver is much greater for K1 than for other tissues. Because the liver needs so much vitamin K, this can leave the cartilage and bone GCGA proteins with inadequate levels. Hence the dietary vitamin K requirement for bone, and the special requirements for the cardiovascular system and cartilage may not be met even though normal clotting factor production occurs, as this occurs in the liver. Therefore, the requirement to keep the vasculature clear of accumulating calcium and to keep the bones well supplied with calcium may not be adequately supplied. This is why the recent discoveries on the value of vitamin K2 and its recent commercial availability can make a great difference in the lives of millions - indeed, a majority of the population would likely benefit.
The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council pegs the requirements of vitamin K in micrograms (mcg) ranges from 5 micrograms for infants and up to 80 mcg for adult males and 65 mcg for adult females. 2
The FDA’s recommendations for vitamin K dosage is based on the liver’s requirements alone. Research by Knapen and Booth showed that a large percentage of the enzymes that do not receive GCGA because of a vitamin K1 or K2 deficiency, become unable to mobilize calcium and place it into the bone where it belongs. This GCGA-deficient enzyme is known as under-carboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC). This was found to be true in the majority of the healthy adult population, indicating subclinical vitamin deficiency in a large portion of the population. 3,4 Though subclinical in terms of acute symptoms, slow development of osteoporosis or acute coronary disease are the processes produced by this deficiency - the first symptom may even be death.
One vitamin K intervention study showed that both bone mineral density and vascular elasticity were shown to increase. 5 Other studies have demonstrated consistent findings adding to the conclusion that vitamin K1, and preferably, a good amount of vitamin K2, may be the best protection for preventing calcification of the arteries, and for protection against osteoporosis. A wealth of new information implies that vitamin K, and particularly vitamin K2 holds very strong promise for avoiding two of the most feared components of aging - heart disease and osteoporosis, and potentially, the whole array of Syndrome X consequences.
The aging body produces progressively higher levels of the inflammation-promoting cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6). Once IL-6 becomes out of balance with the other cytokines, inflammation accelerates. It has been observed that people with arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, and atherosclerosis have higher levels of IL-6. In a study done by the National Research Institute in Italy, it was shown that subjects with the highest levels of IL-6 were almost twice as likely to develop mobility-related disabilities. Recent research has demonstrated vitamin K’s anti-inflammatory action, and the ability to reduce IL-6 levels. Vitamin K has been show to be protective of the liver and to act as an antioxidant more powerful than vitamin E and coenzyme Q10 for scavenging free radicals in many of the body’s tissues. Mounting evidence suggests there is a synergistic effect between vitamins K, D, calcium and magnesium. Optimal health effects may be obtained from combined supplementation of vitamins K, D and minerals.
More detailed discussion of vitamin K can be found at the Sprinboard4health and Life extension Foundation websites.
Vitamin K2 References:
1. Schurgers LJ, Vermeer C. Differential lipoprotein transport pathways of K-vitamins in healthy subjects. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2002 Feb 15;1570(1):27-32.
2. Kelleys Textbook of Internal Medicine, Fourth Edition, 2000, Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA.
3. Knapen MH, Jie KS, Hamulyak K, Vermeer C. Vitamin K-induced changes in markers for osteoblast activity and urinary calcium loss. Calcif Tissue Int. 1993 Aug;53(2):81-5.
4. Booth SL, Sokoll LJ, O’Brien ME, Tucker K, Dawson-Hughes B, Sadowski JA. Assessment of dietary phylloquinone intake and vitamin K status in postmenopausal women. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1995 Nov;49(11):832-41.
5. Vermeer C, Braam L, Schurgers L, Brouns F. Agro-Food Industry Hi-Tech 2002, 13:11-15.
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