Vitamin K2 Heart Benefits?
Wait a minute. We thought that vitamin K was the "bad guy." If you take warfarin you are not supposed to eat a lot of green veggies that are rich in vitamin K!
Yes, that is right. Warfarin keeps your body from making a lot of vitamin k1, the "clotting vitamin" that's needed for normal clotting -- for wounds and cuts.
New Vitamin K2 Heart Benefits Found!
But vitamin k2 can actually prevent hardening of the arteries, the leading cause of heart disease?
Yes, And vitamin k2 is found in different foods than k1!
Research is now showing Vitamin k2 to be a key player in preventing calcium build-up in the arteries! In fact, it can also help clear up calcium deposits in the arteries, even in "hardened" arteries.
Why may you not be getting enough? You guessed it! With modern farming and keeping animals indoors, our food has much less of it.
Calcium build-up in the arteries -- one of the long term effects of warfarin -- causes hardening of the arteries, which is THE leading cause of heart disease.
The long term effects of warfarin, or Coumadin, include aortic valve stenosis, and this may be the last thing you expected!
This requires surgery to correct, but is eventually fatal.
The trouble is, that if you are already on warfarin or Coumadin, your doctor will likely not approve your adding a vitamin k2 supplement!
Then what to do?
The good news is, that there is a SAFE supplement that is compatible with these meds!
This SAFE natural alternative is used by cardiologists and can be taken with or instead of warfarin!
Fortunately, there are new pieces of the heart disease puzzle that can save your life.
You may want to choose one of these options:
Here's what you can do and why:
First, you need to know the difference between vitamin K1 and life-saving vitamin K2.
Why? OK. Your doctor or pharmacist have given you a Coumadin food list and a warfarin vitamin K1 diet for a good reason...
This is a GOOD THING. But this requires a DELICATE BALANCE!
The down side is, that instead of clotting, you risk bleeding because you have TOO LITTLE vitamin K1, because there is nothing to stop unwanted bleeding.
And this bleeding can also cause a stroke! Not exactly what you might have bargained for!
That’s why they want you on a warfarin vitamin k diet – to keep vitamin K1 at a steady level – not too much and not too little -- but this is very tricky -- a little like walking a tightrope!
But there’s one more problem with this blood thinner medication:
People who take the blood-thinning drug warfarin, eventually tend to get “aortic stenosis”, or the calcification and narrowing (stenosis) of their aortic valve, say researchers.
This is the valve that carries oxygen rich blood from the heart, which becomes rigid, so this will increase your risk of a heart attack.
Eventually, the aortic valve will need to be replaced by surgery.
These high doses tend to have crippling side effects. Aortic valve stenosis is eventually fatal.
Sam needed surgery for aortic stenosis.
Fortunately his cardiologist knew about Vitamin k2 heart benefits.
Sam successfully avoided this surgery after taking his cardiologist’s advice to take supplements of both vitamin K2 (100 mcg MK-7) and a therapeutic Vitamin D Dosage.
This turned out to be an effective treatment. What happened?
(normal = one and a half inches, squared – 3 cm squared, and Sam’s had been half that size of 1.6 cm.)
Fortunately, Vitamin K2 has been found effective for removing calcium from the aorta (aortic valve stenosis).
It also helps prevent eventual calcium build-up in the kidneys.
For more about vitamin k2 heart benefits:
"Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life"
Turns out that this little-known vitamin, vitamin K2, is responsible for making sure the calcium in your diet gets to the right place – your bones, rather than collecting in your arteries!
How did they find this out?
Dutch researchers found that people who ate the most cheese, lived on average 7 YEARS LONGER than people who ate the least amount of cheese on a daily basis.
Will taking supplements work?
The build-up of calcium PLAQUE in the arteries along with fatty
tissues and scar tissue = atherosclerosis, or HARDENING OF THE ARTERIES.
Researchers are still exploring vitamin K2 and the build-up of calcium in the arteries.
The discovery of vitamin k2 heart benefits is being called the Calcium Paradox. Why?
Doctors have known that calcium-containing arterial plaque narrows the blood vessels to the heart. This is not good.
Hopefully YOUR doctor already knows the vitamin k2 heart benefits!
Surprise foods for vitamin k2 heart benefits:
Research is converging to show us that it is a lack of vitamin K2 that’s the SINGLE BIGGEST DIETARY FACTOR OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE RISK!
No!
Researchers are now honing in on Vitamin K2 as the strongest inhibitor
of tissue calcification that we know of, and not getting enough of this
vitamin, is one of the biggest factors leading to heart disease.
Why? Vitamin K2 regulates calcium metabolism!
Vitamin K2 activates proteins that directs where it gets deposited -– either for storage in your bones, where it belongs, and NOT where it causes trouble -- in your arteries, your kidneys, or even in your skin to cause unwanted wrinkles!
If all is working properly, it turns out that Vitamin K2 activates proteins that prevent calcium from depositing in blood vessels and other tissues e.g. the skin.
Healthy arteries that are free of plaque, according to researchers, contain proteins that have to be activated by vitamin K2!
Unfortunately we have been told to avoid eating fats and cheeses to prevent heart disease. Remember, Dutch people who ate the most Gouda cheese lived 7 years longer than those who ate the least.
Have we been “shooting ourselves in the foot?” by not getting enough vitamin K2 in our diet?
Dr. Rheaume-Bleue explains how Vitamin K2 has been disappearing from our diet, and what are the best Vitamin K2 supplements (menaquinone 7 made from natto) to use and why.
Which are the foods containing Vitamin k2?
But, you say, these are exactly the things you have been advised NOT to eat for your heart. For vitamin k2 heart benefits, SURPRISE!
If Vitamin K2 is needed for your arteries NOT to clog up in the first place, what about removing plaque once it has formed?
MORE GOOD NEWS for vitamin k2 heart benefits!
Studies show that this can be effective in just 6 weeks!
Studies also show that Vitamin K2 also helps improve the flexibility of the arteries once the calcium is gone!
THIS IS GOOD NEWS, because that means that you CAN reverse the “hardening of your arteries!”
Even more vitamin k2 heart benefits!
Vitamin K2 works by activating another protein that encourages the immune system to CLEAR OUT the arterial garbage!
This action is gentle, and is better than INFLAMMATION!
Our arteries get damaged when our immune system tries to clear up the problem and launches an all out inflammatory attack. This, unfortunately, encourages plaque to collect as a “defense” against the inflammation.
If you are taking Coumadin to prevent having a stroke, you need to know how vitamin K1 and K2 are different.
Vitamin K1 rich foods are typically green veggies, and you will want know which foods need to be constant in such a warfarin diet.
Your Coumadin food list will typically NOT stop you from eating Vitamin K2 rich foods, such as natto, egg yolks, hard cheeses and butter and fat from grass fed cows.
(Meta analysis in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2010)
Fortunately, if you want to avoid warfarin side effects, there’s good news.
Yes you need your Coumadin food list. Why?
Because you do NOT need to AVOID foods with vitamin K1.
Instead, you need to keep the amount of vitamin K1 you take in your diet at a CONSTANT level so as not to cause Coumadin food interactions -- “too much” leading to bleeding or “too little” leading to blood clots...
But a warfarin vitamin k diet that limits vitamin K1 is only half the story!
Your doctor will likely agree that it is safe for you to ADD foods and even add supplements with Vitamin K2 to prevent serious warfarin side effects.
We hope you have found our article on vitamin k2 heart benefits helpful.
To stop warfarin side effects, please don’t stop Coumadin cold turkey.
Have your doctor help you decrease your prescription gradually. You can add vitamin k2 heart benefits with your foods first.
Your doctor does not agree?
Since vitamin k 2 is not well understood, your doctor will not likely want you on a vitamin K2 supplement, even a safe one sourced from natto: MK-7.
Instead, you can safely transition with a proven heart supplement that doesn’t interfere with Coumadin:
By adding such a supplement your doctor can help you reduce this blood thinning medication.
Let us know how you do so we can tell your story of discovering the vitamin k2 heart benefits.
Apparently, by taking a steady supply of vitamin K as a supplement, you will help to stabilize your INR if on warfarin, and will stabilize the blood thinning drugs you are taking. Your doctor my appreciate seeing this study. 2
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SOURCES:
1. Dietary intake of menaquinone (Vitamin k2) is associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease: the Rotterdam Study J Nutr . 2004 ov;134(11):3100-5.
2. Daily vitamin K supplementation improves anticoagulant stability
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