Maastricht University. Netherlands: Researchers at the R&D Group VitaK (100% subsidiary of UM
Holding) have provided definitive proof that vitamin K2 not only
prevents atherosclerosis, but can also restore arterial stiffness. This
breakthrough in the link between nutrition and cardiovascular disease
was made following a large-scale intervention study in which hundreds of
patients received either vitamin K2 or a placebo over the course of
three years. The study was published in the leading scientific journal
Thrombosis and Haemostasis and is the first to confirm a causal
relationship between vitamin K2 and cardiovascular disease.
The
most striking result of the study is that not only was the development
of atherosclerosis stopped, the stiffened blood vessels started to
regain their elasticity. This improvement had previously been
demonstrated in laboratory animals, but never before in humans.
In
2013, the same cohort study showed that vitamin K2 also had a positive
effect on bone strength and bone loss in post-menopausal women. The same
team of researchers, in collaboration with Erasmus University
Rotterdam, demonstrated in 2004 that people who ate a diet rich in
vitamin K2 were fifty percent less likely to die from cardiovascular
disease. Research conducted in collaboration with the University of
Leuven showed that low vitamin K levels in the blood vessel wall was a
significant risk factor for cardiovascular mortality, similar to that of
smoking. In the recently published study, a purified form of vitamin K2
was administered in low doses (roughly equivalent to the recommended
daily intake) as a dietary supplement for women between the ages of 55
and 65.
Note for the press:
The full title of the
publication: Knapen, M.H.J., Braam, L.A.J.L.M., Drummen, N.E.A., Bekers,
O., Hoeks, A.P.G., Theuwissen, E., Vermeer, C. Low-dose menaquinone-7
supplementation improves vascular properties in healthy postmenopausal
women. Thromb. Haemostas. 113 (2015): http://dx.doi.org/10.1160/TH14-08-0675. For
further information, please contact head researcher Cees Vermeer by
phone on +31 43 388 5865 or +31 6 4101 1772 or by email at c.vermeer@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
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