These facts are taken from a fantastic article by Dr. Mercola, please read the entire article HERE.
- K2 is an important fat-soluble vitamin that plays critical roles in protecting your heart and brain, and building strong bones. It also plays an important role in cancer protection.
- The biological role of vit. K2 is to help move calcium into the proper areas in your body, such as your bones and teeth. It also helps remove calcium from areas where it shouldn’t be, such as in your arteries and soft tissues.
- The optimal amounts of vit. K2 are still under investigation, but it seems likely that 180 to 200 micrograms of vit. K2 might be enough to activate your body’s K2-dependent proteins to shuttle calcium to the proper areas. During the 3rd trimester of pregnancy, these doses should be tripled. There is no known toxicity issue with supplementing Vit. K2.
- If you take oral vit. D, you also need to take vit. K2. Vit. K2 deficiency is actually what produces the symptoms of vit. D toxicity, which includes inappropriate calcification that can lead to hardening of your arteries.
- If you take a calcium supplement, it’s important to maintain the proper balance between calcium, vit. K2, vit. D, and magnesium. Lack of balance between these nutrients is why calcium supplements have become associated with increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
- K2 deficiency leaves you vulnerable to Osteoporosis, Heart Disease, Heart attacks, Stroke, Brain Diseases, Cancer, and inappropriate calcifications from heel spurs to kidney stones!
- Food sources of Vit. K2: Grass-fed animal products (eggs, butter, dairy, beef), homemade fermented vegetables (sauerkraut, etc.), Brie & Gouda cheeses, and goose liver pâté.
- Supplementing Vit. K2, look for MK-7 (menaquinone-7), longer-chain forms found in fermented foods. There’s a variety of these long-chain forms but the most common one is MK-7. This is the one you’ll want to look for in supplements, because in a supplement form, the MK-4 products are actually synthetic (not good). They are not derived from natural food products. Dr. Sharla’s recommendation: Jarrow Brand MK-7
Mercola.com: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/12/16/vitamin-k2.aspx