Targeting those on haemodialysis (assisted removal of bodily waste products), the researchers found vitamin K2 could invigorate a dormant bodily compound called undercarboxylated MGP – thus reducing calcification probability.
NattoPharma supplied the menaquinone version of vitamin K2 (MK-7) for the study that had no control and 165 completers.
“Pharmacological doses of MK-7 dose-dependently reduce [undercarboxylated MGP],” said the researchers led by An S. De Vriese of the Division of Nephrology and Infectious Diseases, at St Jan Hospital in Austria.
“Menaquinone supplementation may be a novel approach to prevent vascular calcifications in chronic haemodialysis patients.”
The patients received either 360, 720 or 1080μg of MK-7 three times weekly for 8 weeks.
Source:
Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation
doi: 10.1093/ndt/gft464
‘Vitamin K2 supplementation in haemodialysis patients: a randomized dose-finding study’
Authors: Rogier Caluwé, Stefaan Vandecasteele, Bruno Van Vlem, Cees Vermeer, An S. De Vriese