Do I Want Vitamin K1 and Vitamin K2?

Are There Variations Between K1 and K2?

Vitamin Okay exists in two main varieties in nature, K1 and K2. Vitamin K1 (additionally known as phylloquinone) is straightforward to acquire when following a Nutritarian food plan since it’s plentiful in leafy inexperienced greens, akin to kale, collards, spinach, and mustard greens. Most dietary vitamin Okay is K1, and as much as 25 % of vitamin Okay in a typical food plan could come from K2.² Vitamin K2 (a number of completely different substances known as menaquinones) is produced primarily by micro organism, and is scarce in plant meals. K2 is harder to get from a Nutritarian food plan since it’s primarily present in animal merchandise, notably in darkish meat rooster, pork, and fermented meals like cheese and yogurt. The human physique can synthesize some K2 from K1, and intestinal micro organism can produce some K2, however these are small quantities, and it’s unclear whether or not any vital quantity is absorbed after manufacturing by the microbiome.⁷

The proof is inconclusive on whether or not there are advantages of vitamin Okay particular to K1 or K2. There’s some proof that K2 is extra bioavailable, and has greater useful exercise than K1, notably for capabilities outdoors of blood coagulation. The completely different chemical constructions of nutritional vitamins K1 and K2 have an effect on their bioavailability and metabolism, with K2 having an extended half-life within the circulation system. A examine evaluating K1 and K2 in people discovered that the 2 have been equally absorbed, nevertheless, K2 (as menaquinone-7, MK-7) had greater bioavailability. Supplementation with K2 resulted in greater and extra secure circulating ranges of vitamin Okay in comparison with K1, and larger carboxylation of osteocalcin (a measure of noncoagulation vitamin Okay perform).^2,8-10

Analysis on K2

Bone Well being

Conclusions are troublesome to attract from trials investigating vitamin K2 supplementation for fracture prevention. There are three causes for this: First, meta-analyses have mixed research of K1 and K2 supplementation. Second, a number of research from one analysis group have been retracted; and third, most trials haven’t documented K2 standing or K2 consumption at the beginning (if contributors have been already getting loads of vitamin Okay as K2, we might not count on to see any additional profit from taking extra K2).

Associated Tales

Notably, in a few of these research, there was an affiliation between greater K2 consumption and decrease threat of arterial calcification or coronary coronary heart illness, however not for K1.^20-22 It’s unclear why these completely different outcomes have been discovered for K1 and K2; it may very well be resulting from variations in bioavailability or organic exercise between the vitamin Okay varieties.^2,24

Just like bone well being, trials on K2 supplementation measuring arterial calcification are troublesome to interpret as a result of most didn’t assess K2 standing or consumption previous to supplementation. Thus far, K2 supplementation trials haven’t reported reductions in calcification.²⁵ The prevailing trials on K2 supplementation have been performed on most people (not vegetarians or vegans), who’re almost certainly already getting some K2 from animal merchandise.

Ought to Vegans (and Others With Low K2 Consumption) Complement With K2?

I like to recommend supplementing with a conservative quantity of K2 as a result of this vitamin isn’t current in most plant meals, and K2 could present some advantages that K1 doesn’t. Whether or not K2 supplementation of a plant-based food plan (which incorporates little to no K2) helps stop fractures or arterial calcification has not been straight studied but.

Though there is no such thing as a proof of toxicity related to vitamin K1 or K2 supplementation,²⁶ and plenty of trials have used greater doses of K2, I like to recommend warning with the dose of K2 dietary supplements since vitamin Okay is a fat-soluble vitamin (fat-soluble nutritional vitamins usually accumulate extra within the physique than water-soluble nutritional vitamins). My multivitamin and mineral dietary supplements embody roughly one-third of the advisable day by day consumption for vitamin Okay as K2 (30 to 40 micrograms).