All About Vitamin K2
Vitamin K2, a fat-soluble vitamin that does a whole lot more than just make your pearly whites pearlier. Vitamin K2 is important for bone health, heart health – and it’s all but vanished from the modern diet.
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Vitamin K: Meet the Family
Just like we have a lot of B vitamins instead of just one “Vitamin B,” we also have a whole family of K vitamins.
Vitamin K1 (Phylloquinone)
Vitamin K1 is found only in plants. When you see vegetables high in “Vitamin K. Anything dark green and leafy is a good bet for Vitamin K1.
Vitamin K2 (Menaquinones)
There are several different types of Vitamin K2, and each type gets its own number. Scientists have identified MK-4 through MK-13, but the most important two are MK-4 and MK-7.
- MK-4: found in poultry and eggs.
- MK-7: hard to find outside of natto (fermented soybeans) and cheese.
It’s true that your gut flora can convert K1 to the various forms of K2, but it’s not terribly efficient – even your gut flora can’t do everything! A precise conversion rate is hard to pin down, since it varies from species to species an we just can’t get all the K2 we need by converting K1. We’ve got to get at least some of our K2 directly.
What Does Vitamin K2 Do for You?
Vitamin K2 is a great enabler. Specifically, it’s an enabler for Vitamins A and D. Think of it like a “partner vitamin” for A and D: without K2 along for the ride, you wouldn’t get all the benefits of the other two vitamins. It’s also an enabler for calcium: it keeps the calcium you eat in your bones (where you want it) and not in your arteries (where you don’t).
Bone Health
That makes Vitamin K2 crucial for bone health
Heart Health
Vitamin K2 is also important for keeping calcium out of your arteries. And that makes it excellent for heart health, even though it’s found in all those cholesterol-rich foods we’re warned against eating if we want to live past 45.Ironically enough, in the quest to avoid cholesterol (which isn’t even dangerous!), we may have been doing serious harm to our hearts.
K2, and specifically MK-4, might improve calcification.
A vitamin that helps prevent two crippling chronic diseases at one blow is a vitamin we all want to get plenty of!
Getting Enough Vitamin K2
But unfortunately, modern diets are typically very deficient in Vitamin K2.
Is Vitamin K2 the “missing piece” that could solve all our modern health problems? Not even close. There is no miracle nutrient that will do that! But it is a pretty big gap in the typical American diet, and a potentially significant one – well worth your time and effort to fill.
- We avoid fat and cholesterol. The best sources of Vitamin K2 are fatty, cholesterol-rich animal foods, which are still demonized as “artery-clogging.”
- We take too many antibiotics. This study found that antibiotics impair the body’s ability to convert Vitamin K1 to Vitamin K2.
- Don’t be afraid of fat. The best sources of K2 are organ meats like liver, especially from poultry.
- Keep your gut flora happy. Avoid broad-spectrum antibiotics if you can.
Is Vitamin K2 the “missing piece” that could solve all our modern health problems? Not even close. There is no miracle nutrient that will do that! But it is a pretty big gap in the typical American diet, and a potentially significant one – well worth your time and effort to fill.
Vitamin K2
How do you get enough vitamin K2?
The very best way to prevent a vitamin K2 deficiency, is to eat a large serving of green leafy vegetables every day. Green leafy vegetables are sky high in vitamin K1. Your body will then convert vitamin K1 to vitamin K2.
Fermented foods, like fermented soybeans, sauerkraut, can all be good sources of vitamin K2.
K2 include liver and grass fed chicken eggs. Of all these sources, nothing even comes close to the amount of vitamin K2 found in natto or fermented soybeans.
Indeed, one serving of natto has enough vitamin K2 for an entire week. Not only is natto loaded with vitamin K2, but this fermented food may also help your gut flora.
Natto is a delicacy in Japan.
Can you get too much vitamin K?
Fortunately, I could find no reported cases of vitamin K toxicity from eating too many green leafy vegetables. On the other hand, it is always possible to overdose on vitamin K from supplement.
Take Home Message
To prevent or reverse a vitamin K2 deficiency, make sure you have a heaping serving of green leafy vegetables every day. Also, some fermented foods and grass fed dairy may also help you to get enough vitamin K2 in your diet.
In fact, calcium deposits and plaque buildup is a sign of early aging. The good news is that no matter how old you are or how “bad” things may seem in your arteries, you can DEFINITELY help reverse and remove calcium and plaque buildup… quickly and easily. And the best part is you can do it naturally – no need to ever take medication.
When it comes to plaque and calcium removal, there are some very specific, potent and effective supplements that will give you dramatic results in just a few short weeks.
Vitamin C, D3, E and especially K2-7 (MK7) and Magnesium are very important at removing calcium OUT of your arteries and putting it in your bones where it belongs.
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