Does Vitamin K2 increase Bone Density? Vitamin K2 and Osteoporosis !

#VitaminK2 #BoneDensity #osteoporosis
Osteoporosis affects both men and women equally.

This condition will fracture approximately 50% of American women and 25% of American men aged 50 and older.

Broken bones are a leading cause of disability. Up to 20% of patients over the age of 50 will die within a year of suffering a hip fracture.
Doctors in Japan have been prescribing high doses of vitamin K2 as a prescription drug for decades to prevent bone loss and fractures.

It is now available without a prescription in the United States.
Clinical trials have shown that 45 mg of vitamin K2 (menaquinone-4) can help with:

• Slow bone loss,
• Reduce fracture risk,
• Build new bone
A two-year study of elderly osteoporosis patients found that high-dose vitamin K2 reduced the number of vertebral fractures by half.

The Risk of Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a condition that causes bones to become weak, brittle, and prone to fractures. After one fracture, the risk of future breaks increases by 86%.
Hip and vertebral fractures are particularly associated with loss of mobility and the risk of death. People who suffer a vertebral fracture have an eight-fold increase in mortality when compared to other people their age.
Almost any type of broken bone increases the risk of death in the elderly. That is why it is critical to not only slow, but also reverse bone loss as soon as it begins.

When comparing the left (normal) and right (osteoporosis) images, the increase in dark areas involving this cross-section of the femur are simplified visual depictions of the osteoporosis-related increase in bone marrow fat and thinning (decrease) in cancellous/trabecular bone.

How Bone Loss Occurs

The body is constantly breaking down old bone and forming new bone.
Bone density increases during the first decades of life. Then it settles for another two decades.
Bone density begins to decline around the age of 40. The onset of menopause accelerates the rate of bone loss in women.
This decrease in bone mineral density results in a decrease in bone strength. Even minor injuries and stress fractures that occur during normal movement cause bones to become brittle and prone to fracture.
Osteopenia is the term for the early stage of bone deterioration.
Osteoporosis develops if no action is taken and bone density continues to decline. Osteoporosis is defined as "bone with pores or holes."
Most people with osteopenia or osteoporosis are unaware of their condition until it is too late—when they suffer a fracture. High-Dose Vitamin K2 Improves Bone Health
• Osteoporosis is characterized by bone loss and an increased risk of serious fractures. These fractures pose a significant risk of death in people over the age of 50.
• For decades, high-dose vitamin K2, in the form of MK-4, has been used in Japan as an osteoporosis treatment.

The good news is that there is something we can do about age-related bone loss and fracture risk.
Vitamin K promotes normal blood clotting in low doses of 45-60 mcg. This small amount of vitamin K is normally obtained through diet.
Japanese doctors have long prescribed much higher doses of a specific form of vitamin K2 as an osteoporosis treatment.

Decades of research have shown that 45 mg (45,000 mcg) of vitamin K2 in the form of menaquinone-4 (MK-4) improves bone health.

Scientists have now confirmed that taking high-dose vitamin K2 orally is essential for bone strength and other aspects of healthy aging.

Bone density has increased.

Over a two-year period,
• Patients who received only calcium continued to lose bone density, dropping by about 3% over a two-year period;
• Patients who received vitamin K2 in addition to calcium maintained their bone mineral density largely.
A 10% decrease in bone density more than doubles the risk of vertebral and hip fractures. 13 This suggests that patients in this study who were only given calcium may be at a higher risk of fracture.
However, supplementing calcium with vitamin K2 significantly slowed bone loss, potentially preventing an increase in fracture risk.
Patients who received K2 had significantly higher levels of active osteocalcin.
This protein binds calcium to bone, assisting the body in the conversion of calcium into healthy new bone.

Fracture Prevention

In the same study, researchers looked at the effect of vitamin K2 on the occurrence of bone fractures.
During the two-year study, the calcium-only group sustained 35 fractures, while the vitamin K2 group sustained only 14 fractures.
Another Japanese clinical trial looked at the effect of vitamin K2 on women with osteoporosis.
Taking 45 mg of oral vitamin K2 daily:
• Maintained mineral density to a significantly greater extent than the untreated group; and
• Reduced the incidence of vertebral fractures to a degree comparable to the drug etidronate.

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