Vitamin K2 (MK-7) supplementation in hemodialysis patients

The majority of CNE patients die from a cardiovascular event before they can get a kidney transplant. It is therefore of crucial importance to find effective solutions to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases in hemodialysis patients.

Patients with longer hemodialysy also had a tendency towards high DP-UCMGP mirrors, which, however, was not statistically significant ( p = 0.18). Overall, women had a tendency towards lower vitamin K mirrors and consequently higher DP-UCMGP levels.

mk-7 was well tolerated; None of the participants broke out the treatment and there were no reports on side effects.

clinical implications

Vascular calcification increases the mortality risk and most hemodialysis patients suffer from increased vascular calcification. ^{1 The matrix-gla protein is a vitamin K-dependent protein that inhibits cardiovascular calcification. Prefabricid of MGP, correlate with vascular calcification and are predictive for vitamin K status. 3 It is now known that people with vascular calcification suffer 3 to 4 times more often a cardiovascular event or die prematurely as persons without vascular calcification.}

theoretically, physiologically and clinically, it makes sense that the correction of a vitamin K deficiency contributes to reducing the risk of vascular calcification. This is particularly important in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), since vitamin K deficiency occurs frequently in this population.

The majority of CNE patients die from a cardiovascular event before they can receive a kidney transplant. ^{7 It is therefore of crucial importance to find effective solutions for reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases in hemodialysis patients.}

The present study is promising because it shows that supplementation can reduce 360 ​​MCG MK-7 DP-UCMGP, but unfortunately the researchers have not examined whether MK-7 changes the progression of arterial calcifications.

Kernatowka and colleagues tested the effects of MK-7 on calcification. They gave 42 non-dialysized patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) 90 micrograms MK-7 for 270 days. ^{8 They came to the conclusion that MK-7 significantly reduced the DP-UCMGP levels, but did not significantly influence the progression of calcification. However, it is possible that there is a dose effect effect at MK-7. Perhaps a higher dose could have helped to slow down or even reverse arterial calcification. A second study is currently being carried out to evaluate the effect of 360 MCG MK-7 on aortic calcification in patients with coronary heart disease; The results of this clinical study are still pending.}

As a vitamin K-dependent protein, DP-UCMGP can be regarded as a marker for a functional vitamin K deficiency. Supplementation with vitamin K with increased DP-UCMGP reduces DP-UCMGP; Whether vitamin K supplementation also improves the clinical results in this patient population must still be demonstrated in clinical studies.

Most integrative practitioners are versed in recognizing and correcting nutrient deficiencies. This study further illustrates the potential positive health benefits that can be achieved, especially for certain patient populations. Since vitamin K is safe even in very high doses, clinicians can decide that the higher dose used in this study could be appropriate to help their patients, while we wait for the results of additional studies that could show direct clinical benefits.

disclosure of conflicts of interest

The author of this comment is the founder and president of Nutritional Biochemistry, Inc. (NBI) and NBI Pharmaceuticals. NBI is a manufacturer of nutritional supplements that sell vitamin K2 nutritional supplements, and NBI Pharmaceuticals received from the US FDA Orphan Drug designations for a certain form of vitamin K2 for potential treatment of rare types of cancer.