According to the CDC six in ten adults in the USA have a chronic disease and four in ten have multiple chronic diseases. Among those are heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease.
Many people in the United States who suffer from chronic diseases take prescription drugs. One that is being pushed on people is the cholesterol lowering medication. At this point I’m just saying that cholesterol is important for hormone production and rises with inflammatory processes in the body. Other drugs millions of Americans are taking are medications for osteoporosis, high blood pressure, prostate cancer, and diabetes.
In this research article “An Empirical Study of Chronic Diseases in the United States: A Visual Analytics Approach to Public Health” by Wullianallur Raghupathi and Viju Raghupathi they are stating that chronic diseases are among the most prevalent and costly health conditions in the United States.
“133 million, that’s about 45% of the population, of all Americans suffer from at least one chronic disease and the number is growing. Chronic diseases are responsible for seven out of every 10 deaths in the U.S., killing more than 1.7 million Americans every year. Chronic diseases can be disabling and reduce a person’s quality of life, especially if left undiagnosed or untreated.”
This is a shocking statistic and the question is what we can do to improve our health.
You may fall in the category of people who awoke to the fact that our food is poisoned with pesticides and herbicides (Glyphosate -Roundup), animals are kept “healthy” with antibiotics and fed grains, our air is polluted, and our drinking water as well.
What can we do to improve our health besides eating healthy foods, using a water filtration system, exercising, lowering the electromagnetic frequency exposure, and having a positive mind set?
I want to introduce you to Vitamin K2-7
Most people are probably not deficient in Vitamin K1. It is found in leafy green vegetables which most people eat such as spinach, collards and broccoli.
On the other hand, Vitamin K2 in Megaquinone, is derived from putrefied fish meal, natto and fermented cheeses like Gouda or Edam, and produced by intestinal bacteria. In addition to low amounts of Vitamin K2 in our diet, our body can not produce it.
Vitamin K2 is an essential nutrient, needed for incredibly important functions in the body. Essential nutrients are called essential because they are needed for specific functions that you can’t get from any other nutrient sources.
K2 activates the use of minerals such as calcium and magnesium.
Looking at the wisdom of our body, we’ll find that specific proteins take calcium out of arteries and stick it on bone where it is supposed to go. Calcium deposited in soft tissue is certainly not what we want because it can cause arteriosclerosis. In addition if calcium is not being transported from the arterial wall to the bone (where we need it), we end up with osteoporosis. Vitamin K2 is the only nutrient in our diet that can perform this function.
- Vitamin K2 is now being recognized as an omnipotent nutrient that exerts function in almost every tissue type in our body.
- Vitamin K is a fat soluble vitamin; K stands for koagulation, which is a German word, hence the K.
- When we take a look at bone formation and bone health we see that vitamin D3, the active form of D vitamin, is being used by cells called osteoblasts to build bone. Those cells release osteocalcin which needs and uses vitamin K2-7 to transform osteocalcin into an active form which is called Gla-osteocalcin. The active form of osteocalcin then uses calcium to create the bone matrix and calcium is being crystallized. Osteocalcin provides the “glue” that holds calcium in the bone. Without osteocalcin the bones would be brittle and easily break and calcium is not being held in bones.
- A study done in 2001 by Kaneki shows that Natto consumption increased levels of activated osteocalcin and reduced risk fractures.
- In 2006 a study done by Ikeda showed that natto consumption helps prevent the development of osteoporosis.
- In 2008 Yaegashi did a study that showed that better vitamin K levels from Natto reduced the number of hip fracture risk.
In this study, the calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, and vitamin K dietary intake was analyzed in a nationwide Japanese survey. The incidences of hip fractures in the western part of Japan were higher than in the east. What makes the difference is that people who live in the western part of Japan consume less Natto than in the eastern part of the nation.
Heart health
- A study from 2008 with the title A high menaquinone intake reduces the incidents of coronary heart disease. This study was done on 16,057 women between the ages of 49 -70 who were free of cardiovascular diseases at baseline. Their vitamin K2 intake was established via food questionnaires.
- The observation showed an inverse association between vitamin K2 and the risk of coronary heart disease.
- A study from 2009 by Beulents and others: A high menaquinone intake reduces the incidence of coronary heart disease. Over 500 post-menopausal women participated in this study with 360 of the women with coronary calcification. The result showed that high dietary Menaquinone intake is associated with a decrease coronary calcification.
- A Rotterdam Study from 2004 Dietary intake of menaquinone is associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease by Geleinse and others.
The Rotterdam study showed that vitamin K dependent proteins have been shown to inhibit vascular calcification. 4807 subjects without a history of myocardial infarction who were followed from 1990 to 2000 and their vitamin K intake observed. The result showed that the tertiles with a higher dietary menaquinone intake had a lower risk of coronary heart disease. - Eating foods high in vitamin K2 of 45 microgram per day can lower arterial calcification and cardiovascular death drops by 50% as compared to low intake of dietary K2.
- In 2008 The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 87 published an article on Dietary intake of vitamin K and risk of prostate cancer in the Heidelberg cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Heidelberg)
- Almost 12,000 men age 40 – 65 years participated in this study. The results suggest an inverse association between the intake of menaquinones and prostate cancer.
We can eat foods high in vitamin K2 such as Natto, fermented cheeses and putrefied fish meal.
Or we can take a vitamin K2 supplement that is stable and does not deteriorate while it sits on the shelf.
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The information provided on this website is not meant to substitute professional medical advice. Consult your health care provider in regard to supplementation, especially if you are on any kind of medication.
Referenece:
A high menaquinone intake reduces the incidence of coronary heart disease G.C.M. Gast
High dietary menaquinone intake is associated with reduced coronary calcification.
Beulens JW, Bots ML, Atsma F,Bartelink ML, Prockop M, Geleijnse JM, Witteman JC, Grobbee DE, van der Schouw YT.
Dietary intake of menaquinone is associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease: the Rotterdam Study.
Geleijnse JM1, Vermeer C, Grobbee DE, Schurgers LJ, Knapen MH, van der Meer IM, Hofman A, Witteman JC.
Abstract
Vitamin K-dependent proteins, including matrix Gla-protein, have been shown to inhibit vascular calcification. Activation of these proteins via carboxylation depends on the availability of vitamin K. We
examined whether dietary intake of phylloquinone (vitamin K-1) and menaquinone (vitamin K-2) were related to aortic calcification and coronary heart disease (CHD) in the population-based Rotterdam Study. The analysis included 4807 subjects with dietary data and no history of myocardial infarction at baseline (1990-1993) who were followed until January 1, 2000. The risk of incident CHD, all-cause mortality, and aortic atherosclerosis was studied in tertiles of energy adjusted vitamin K intake after adjustment for age, gender, BMI, smoking, diabetes, education, and dietary factors. The relative risk RR) of CHD mortality was reduced in the mid and upper tertiles of dietary menaquinone compared to the lower tertile [RR = 0.73 (95% CI: 0.45, 1.17) and 0.43 (0.24, 0.77), respectively]. Intake of menaquinone was also inversely related to all-cause mortality [RR = 0.91 (0.75, 1.09) and 0.74 (0.59, 0.92), respectively] and severe aortic calcification [odds ratio of 0.71 (0.50, 1.00) and 0.48 (0.32, 0.71), respectively]. Phylloquinone intake was not related to any of the outcomes. These findings suggest that an adequate intake of menaquinone could be important for CHD prevention.
CDC Chronic disease in adults in the US
The Growing Crisis of Chronic Disease in the United States
An Empirical Study of Chronic Diseases in the United States: A Visual Analytics Approach to Public Health
Wullianallur Raghupathi1 and Viju Raghupathi2,*
Menaquinone Content of Cheese
Cees Vermeer, Joyce Raes, Cynthia van ’t Hoofd, Marjo H. J. Knapen,* and Sofia Xanthoulea
Dietary intake of vitamin K and risk of prostate cancer in the Heidelberg cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Heidelberg)
Katharina Nimptsch Sabine Rohrmann Jakob Linseisen
Vitamin K2 MK-7: A stability challenge, a market study