Inhibition of K2 by Drugs and Vegetable Oils The Real Reason Behind Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease?

As pharmacists we have seen a dramatic increase in statin drugs over the years, as well as dramatic increases in diabetes, weight gain, muscle aches and pains, along with depletion of Coq10 and now vitamin K2.

Research has shown that vegetable oils also inhibit natural production of K2, and knowing how prevelant they are in the standard american diet, our nation is set up for even greater k2 depletion.

Vitamin K2 activates proteins that are made in different organs in the body—clotting factors in the liver, osteocalcin in bones and Matrix Gla Protein (MGP) in the vasculature. These proteins help coagulate blood, bind calcium to the surface of bones and keep calcium from depositing in the arteries and soft tissues.

K2 has shown profound benefits for metabolic, cardiovascular and bone health. One study shown how it reversed the calcification of arterial plaques in postmenopausal females, while popular “heart healthy” drugs such as the cholesterol lowering statins have shown to reduce the body’s ability to manufacture K2- possibly adding insult to injury.

Now a new review paper published in leading journal Pharmacology examines the positive associations between the inhibition of K2 by vegetable oils and medications with the advancement of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), chronic kidney disease, bone fracture, and even mental disorder.

The authors of the review paper, "Medicines and Vegetable Oils as Hidden Causes of Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes,” note that impaired vitamin K2-dependent processes by some types of vegetable oils and medicines, but not plasma high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, were proposed as the cause of CVD, DM and other lifestyle-related diseases.

While the function of vitamin K2 is vital to ensuring that the body properly utilizes calcium, studies have shown that 97 percent of Western populations are vitamin K2 deficient/insufficient.

Vitamin K2 should be finding its way into your nutritional arsenal to help prevent issues in your clients including heart disease, osteoporosis, and more.

References:
1 Okuyama H et al. Medicines and Vegetable Oils as Hidden Causes of Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes. Pharmacology 2016;98:134–170. DOI: 10.1159/000446704.
2 Okuyama H et al. Statins stimulate atherosclerosis and heart failure: pharmacological mechanisms. Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol. 2015 Mar;8(2):189-99. doi: 10.1586/17512433.2015.1011125. Epub 2015 Feb 6.
3 Shea MK et al. Circulating uncarboxylated matrix gla protein is associated with vitamin K nutritional status, but not coronary artery calcium, in older adults. J Nutr. 2011 Aug;141(8):1529‐34.