The problem with these rat studies is that rats seem very much not prone to getting atherosclerosis. You have to genetically design them to get it or you have to feed them very high fat diets that they almost never consume naturally.
Given that rats really "don't want to have atherosclerosis", it seems that most interventions work pretty well in reversing it in them. Many of these interventions don't seem to pan out in humans unfortunately.
Are there any human studies that show a good effect in humans for vitamin K (mk4 or mk7) halting or reversing atherosclerosis? I looked several years ago and the only thing I could find were rat studies and human population studies (which aren't great at teasing out cause and effect - too many confounding factors).
I know there was that human study underway at the University of Maastricht. It should have completed a year or two ago but I haven't seen anything published (though I haven't looked in awhile). I did converse with one of the authors but he wouldn't talk about any of the findings.
This is really off topic for this thread btw. We have a thread on reversing arterial plaque. It was started by a really swell guy if I recall
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For some reason this forum with the word "trodusquemine," which symbolizes complete regeneration, is more magnetic to me than the other thread.
The hyperlinked study text below describes the mechanism for arterial calcification. If MGP (Matrix Gla Protein) is not carboxylated because there isn't enough vitamin K (2, especially) in circulation, then the endothelium (inner linings) of the arteries are ripe for calcification.
Matrix Gla Protein (MGP), a small Gla vitamin K-dependent protein, is the most powerful naturally occurring inhibitor of calcification in the human body. To become biologically active, MGP must undergo vitamin K-dependent carboxylation and phosphorylation. Vitamin K deficiency leads to the inactive uncarboxylated, dephosphorylated form of MGP (dpucMGP).
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Whether humans or rats, this is the mechanism. Calcium in the blood stream either has guidance from fully carboxylated MGP - into bones and teeth and away from soft tissue or.... we have cardiovascular disease - calcified arteries, renal calcification/kidney stones, soft tissue calcification, in general, and on the other side, loss of calcium from bones.
Calcium needs to be "guided."
Here is another look - https://www.ncbi.nlm...1?dopt=Abstract
Hopefully, this provides some clarity about why it is prudent to regularly take a vitamin K2(MK-7) supplement over the long-term.
The study you referred to was described to me by Dr. Leon Schurgers of Maastrich University when he came to California to visit and chat about vitamin K2 in 2015.
He told me that since 180 mcg of vitamin K2 (MK-7) had been shown to decrease arterial stiffness, which basically means having more flexible arteries - in healthy postmenopausal women, they were going to do a study with 360 mcg of MK-7 with postmenopausal women that had measurable arterial calcification/cardiovascular disease and use an advanced imaging technique, so that the study could be completed in a year, rather than take three years.
I have been searching for the results of that study since the time its results were supposed to have been released and have not seen it.
Regardless of whether the study remains unpublished, the hundreds of studies that detail vitamin Ks role in potentially reducing human arterial calcification mandate that I take it regularly as a supplement (300-500 mcg of vitamin K2-MK7/day) AND consume foods that are rich in it. They're tasty, too!
Edited by mikey, 25 July 2019 - 02:51 AM.
