Vitamin K May Help Prevent Vascular Calcification in Dialysis Patients

A Vitamin K supplementation may help prevent vascular calcification in hemodialysis patients, according to aNephrology Dialysis Transplantation study. The vitamin K-dependent matrix Gla protein (MGP) is a powerful inhibitor of vascular calcification, and dialysis patients are known to have high levels of the inactive form of the protein. To test whether vitamin K2 (menaquinone) might improve the calcification inhibitory activity of MGP, researchers randomized 200 dialysis patients to receive 360, 720, or 1080 µg of menaquinone-7 (MK-7) thrice weekly for eight weeks. MK-7 supplementation reduced inactive MGP, with levels decreasing by 17%, 33%, and 46% in the respective groups.