Vitamin K for heart Disease

MAASTRICHT, NetherlandsVitamin K reduced arterial calcification (a major risk factor for heart disease) by 37 percent in rats also given warfarin. Researchers at the Cardiovascular Research Institute (CARIM), Maastricht University, found warfarin-induced vascular calcification in rats is preventable or even reversible by high vitamin K intake, with a putative role for the vitamin K-dependent, matrix Gla Protein (MGP), one of the strongest in vivo inhibitors of arterial calcification. In the study, published in Blood (DOI:10.1182/blood- 2006-07-035345), rats were given a calcification-inducing diet containing both vitamin K and warfarin for six weeks. During a second six-week period, rats were randomized to receive either a warfarin/vitamin K combination (3.0 mg/g and 1.5 mg/g, subsequently), a diet containing normal (5 mcg/g) or a high amount of vitamin K1 or K2 (100 mcg/g). The group that continued to receive warfarin/vitamin K had increased aortic calcium concentration; the group given the normal dose of vitamin K showed progression of arterial calcification. Both the vitamin K-rich diets decreased the arterial calcium content by 50 percent. Additionally, arterial distensibility (capacity to stretch) was restored by the vitamin K-rich diet. Using MGP antibodies, vitamin K deficiency was seen where calcification was present. According to researchers, this is the first study in rats demonstrating that arterial calcificationand resulting decreased arterial distensibilityis reversible by a high intake of vitamin K.