Vitamin K1 vs. K2 — What’s the Difference?

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It’s all too easy to confuse the actions of a vitamin of the same letter with another number. Vitamin K1 works primarily to help regulate coagulation and is present in abundance in the American diet. This is also the infamous vitamin given as an injection to babies when they are born. They inject vitamin K1 to ensure their coagulation factors are sufficient.

Vitamin K2 on the other hand works through activation of Matrix GLA Protein (MGP) which affects calcium transport in the body. Most Americans are deficient in this nutrient – present mostly in grass-fed animal products like meats and cheeses as well as in fermented foods like natto – and and would therefore benefit from supplementation. Sadly, vitamin K2 is often absent from multivitamins because it is more expensive. The vitamin K2 source with highest absorption and longest activity in the body is Menaquinone-7 (MK-7). When you supplement with vitamin K2 as MK-7 each day, your levels will increase with time. This ensures calcium is adequately absorbed, and that it goes where you want it (bones and teeth) and not where you don’t (soft tissues, vessels).

Recent Research:

ABSTRACT: Statins stimulate atherosclerosis and heart failure: pharmacological mechanisms
Understand how and why depletion of CoQ10, vitamin K2 and selenium are an in-born issue while on statin therapy.
Published in: Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol. 2015 Mar;8(2):189-99

ABSTRACT: Vitamin K2 restores elasticity of blood vessels

Learn how Menaquinone-7 supplementation improves arterial stiffness in healthy postmenopausal women.
Published in: Thrombosis and Haemostasis 113 (2015) http://dx.doi.org/10.1160/TH14-08-0675

Books:

Vitamin K2: The Missing Nutrient for Heart and Bone Health by Dennis Goodman, M.D.

Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox by Kate Rhéaume-Bleue, B.Sc., N.D.