Vitamin K and K2

[cesanon]

I see people talk about Vitamin K2. How is that different from plain old vitamin K.

I was in a Walgreens yesterday. All they had was regular vitamin K. Anything wrong or deficient with that?

[FCoffey]

from Mercola.com

articles.mercola.com/sites/...

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The three types of vitamin K are the following:

Vitamin K1, or phylloquinone, is found naturally in plants, especially green vegetables; K1 goes directly to your liver and helps you maintain healthy blood clotting

Vitamin K2, also called menaquinone, is made by the bacteria that line your gastrointestinal tract; K2 goes straight to your blood vessel walls, bones, and tissues other than your liver

Vitamin K3, or menadione, is a synthetic form I do not recommend; it's important to note that toxicity has occurred in infants injected withthis syntheticvitamin K3

The vitamin K I recommend for supplementation is vitamin K2, which is natural and not toxic, at even 500 times the RDA. Vitamin K2, which is made in your body and also produced by fermented foods, is a superior form of vitamin K.Increasing your K2 by consuming more fermented foods is the most desirable way to increase your levels. The food highest in natural K2 is natto, which is a form of fermented soybeans consumed in Asia.

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I like natto but it is difficult to find in most places, even Japanese or Asian grocery stores don't always carry it. Whenever I order it in a sushi restaurant the chef is impressed, I guess few Westerners eat it. It does have an unusual tasted and texture.

[tom67inMA]

I recently started taking MK-7, which is supposed to be the bio-active form of K2. MK-7 was originally a general recommendation of my GP to all her patients, and then when I read about all the benefits of vitamin K here decided to try it out.

If, like you, you tend not to want to buy online try Vitamin Shoppe. I've yet to find a supplement they don't have on the shelf.

[FCoffey]

For K2, I like the MenaQ7 brands. MenaQ7 is all trans (rather than a mix of cis and trans) molecules, which are the bioactive type. The less expensive chemically synthesized MK-7 brands tend to be 50/50 cis/trans. MenaQ7 is included in many K2 brands. It will be noted on the label.

menaq7.com/why-menaq7/super...

[Tall_Allen]

Seriously? That's how you decide which drugs you are willing to put into your body? People talk on a website and you browse Walgreens? This meta-analysis found that Vitamin K antagonists decreased the risk of PCa. So it is possible that long term excess Vitamin K may increase the risk:

journals.lww.com/md-journal...

At best, there was no effect:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/306...

[cesanon in reply to Tall_Allen]

Well you have to start somewhere. And that is probably the only way we would have learned about your study.

[Tall_Allen in reply to cesanon]

I've posted it before. Good point, though. I'm just very careful about what I put in my body, and I'm surprised when people, especially those with known cancer, are not. I actually read the detailed full prescribing info on pharmaceuticals. I believe in nutrition from food, not drugs. I take no supplements anymore - I have drawers full that I used to take until I had a job analyzing the data from a supplement trial (from a "reputable" manufacturer). When I learned what they actually put in them, I stopped taking them all. We have no idea what is actually in the bottles, their biological activity, their safety, or their interactions with other drugs we take.

[j-o-h-n in reply to cesanon]

To cesanon,

As per your request: "stop reading my posts please. Thanks" I did not read your post.

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Thursday 07/11/2019 10:50 PM DST

Reply

[j-o-h-n]

To cesanon,

As per your request: "stop reading my posts please. Thanks" I did not read your post.

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Thursday 07/11/2019 10:49 PM DST

Reply

[kaptank]

I take K2 both MK4 & MK7. Not for any effect on PCa but for getting calcium out of the blood and in to the bone. Bone thinning is a common long term SE of ADT and good calcium management is required.

[cesanon in reply to kaptank]

What's the difference between MK4 & MK7? And why take both???

[kaptank]

K2 comes in 2 forms, menaquinone 4 and menaquinone 7. Opinion seems to be divided as to which is better and for what purpose. (eg cardiovascular vs bone health) I think most medicos who look at this will recomend M7 on its cardio credentials while M4 seems to be better at calcium transport but the 2 are so inter related that I reckon take them both. A bottle labelled "Vitamin K" can carry a number of forms, some of which are not desireable, so always examine the label.

[cesanon in reply to kaptank]

Which forms are the bad forms?

[kaptank]

As best I know, K1 is OK but no substitute for the K2 forms. K3 is to be avoided.

[JimVanHorn]

Anyone taking Warfarin (Coumadin) to keep blood from clotting (which causes strokes), should know that Vit K erases the effects of Coumadin and you can have a stoke taking Vit K or eating foods high in Vitamin K. Get a list of foods to avoid from your therapist who draws your blood for your international normalized ratio (INR) blood test (finger stick).