Natural Vitamin K2 Helps Prevent Bone Loss in Postmenopausal Women: This essential vitamin helps calcium-dependent processes in tissues throughout the body, says Katie Jodscheidt

Vitamin K2 is essential for calcium-dependent processes in tissues throughout the body, including bone. Since the discovery of vitamin K in 1935, researchers have found many important roles and sources of vitamin K2. Even though many research milestones have been realized with vitamin K2, the researchers at Innerzyme continue to study this incredible nutrient to gain additional knowledge, including how it enters the body and moves throughout cells and tissues, how it is stored and how it is metabolized.

A major nuance of studying the role of vitamin K2 in the human body is that it is present in relatively low levels, making it hard to detect and measure. A number of recent reports have found promising results related to vitamin K2 and bone health, particularly in postmenopausal women. A recent peer reviewed study from the Netherlands sought out to determine the effects of a natural form of vitamin K2, menaquinone-7 (MK-7), in postmenopausal women.

This work was driven by the European Food Safety Authority's acceptance of claims that vitamin K had a role in bone health. To test this, the researchers carefully designed their double-blind and randomized experiment, in which they measured bone mineral density before the treatment, as well as one, two or three years after taking the vitamin K2 supplement daily. Bone mineral density scans are used to estimate the strength of an individual's skeletal system, a common test for postmenopausal women. They looked for fractures and determined vitamin K status throughout the study.

Within the first year of the supplementation study, maximal levels of circulating vitamin K were achieved, being maintained throughout the three-year duration. When examining the effects of vitamin K supplementation on bone loss, a pattern of improvement was achieved between year one and year two, but it wasn't until year three that there was a significant benefit for all three bone areas analyzed.

Altogether, this research provides well-documented results that contribute significantly to the growing knowledge base concerning the health benefits of vitamin K2 supplementation, including increased bone health. For healthy bone and soft tissue support, the recommended dosage of vitamin K2, MK-7, is 300 mcg per day, or as directed by a licensed healthcare practitioner. In healthy individuals, research has not reported any side effects, adverse reactions or known toxicity as a result of large doses of vitamin K2, MK-7.

Katie Jodscheidt, NASM, CPT, FNS, is the founder of Innerzyme.