Here comes the first report on Vitamin K2 (menaquinone) - as announced and with the study:
Dietary Intake of Menaquinone Is Associated with a Reduced Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: The Rotterdam Study
Details: 4,800 healthy people aged 55 and over were divided into three groups of approximately equal size according to their vitamin K intake (low, medium, high) and examined for coronary heart disease, overall mortality and calcium deposits in the arteries. The duration of the study was 7.2 years (34,645 person-years) during which 99 participants died of heart attack and 602 participants died of other reasons.
Result: Vitamin K1 (vegetable phylloquinone) was not statistically relevant - in other studies it is only about K2 (MK-n). Lay vitamin K2 (MK-4 to MK-9) was the Risk of death from heart disease reduced by 57% than in the lower third.
|
Vitamin K2 (ug/d) in median |
persons | Infarcts | of which fatal | Total deaths | relative risk for fatal infarctions |
| 15 |
1578 |
86 |
41 |
258 |
100% |
| 27 |
1605 |
89 |
35 |
248 |
73% |
| 41 |
1624 |
58 |
23 |
195 |
43% |
When calculating this relative risk, the following factors were taken out: age, gender, BMI, smoking, diabetes, education and dietary factors.
In addition, in the 4581 people the ka lipid-lowering drugs were taken, a kla reduction in total cholesterol (by (−0.025 mmol · L−1· 10 μg−1,P= 0.055) and an increase in HDL cholesterol was observed.
Summary: These results indicate strong protective effects of dietary vitamin K2 against heart disease in the elderly population.
Risks: Vitamin K2 is non-toxic, even when used in very high doses. People who take anticoagulants that are based on vitamin K inhibition (i.e. Marcumar or the coumarin-based) should only take vitamin K after consulting their cardiologist.
What does this mean for nutrition? The study comes from Holland - the Dutch eat almost twice as much vitamin K as the Germans. Vitamin K2 is mainly found in animal foods and fermented foods (meat, eggs, fish, sauerkraut, cheese and other dairy products). You would need the following amounts of this daily to fall into the respective group (data in grams per food item):
| risk group | meat (minced) | Sauerkraut (cooked) | Hard cheese | Natto |
| 100% | 225 | 247 | 21 | 1.5 |
| 73% | 410 |
441 | 38 |
1.5 |
| 43% | 610 | 670 | 58 | 4 |
Nobody will eat 610 grams of minced meat every day to fall into the low-risk group. 60 grams of cheese would be more possible. It would almost be a nutritional supplement Natto- a slimy traditional food made from soybeans. For people who tolerate soy and who are not put off by the slimy consistency. An alternative would be extractions from it.
Ma Classification: It's crazy who doesn't ensure a good supply of vitamin K2. At least 40 ug of vitamin K2 (menaquinone MK4 to MK9).
Addendum July 2024: The original study with 7800 people has disappeared and been replaced by the new link above - with only 4800 people. This changed the results somewhat. On a reduction the fatal infarctions by 44% (23/41).
This is such a drastic improvement that vitamin K2 should actually be the TOP recommendation from cardiologists.