New Study Reveals Vitamin K2 May Benefit Brain Health

Vitamin K is a group of compounds that includes vitamin K1, which is found in leafy green vegetables and some other vegetables, and vitamin K2, which is found in meat, cheese, and eggs. The "Reference Intakes of Dietary Nutrients for Chinese Residents" shows that compounds with vitamin K activity are necessary for the formation of coagulation-related proteins such as prothrombin, and the main symptom of its deficiency is coagulation disorders.

Vitamin K2 is a series of derivatives of menadione with strong antioxidant biological activity, which can activate a variety of key proteins in the human body, including coagulation factors, osteocalcin and matrix Gla protein, etc., and then play a role in promoting blood coagulation and bone metabolism. , reducing cancer, regulating blood sugar, protecting nerves and preventing vascular sclerosis and other biological effects, has important clinical significance.

At present, vitamin K2 has received worldwide attention and has become a research hotspot.

New study reveals vitamin K2 may be good for the brain

In a new study in rats, scientists report evidence that vitamin K helps prevent cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. The study was published March 8, 2022 in the journal Antioxidants.

Presented at the 2022 American Congress of Experimental Biology, senior author of the study, Dr. Mohamed El-Sherbiny of Al Marefa University, Saudi Arabia, argues that vitamin K2 plays a role in impeding behavioral, functional, biochemical and Histopathological changes showed very promising effects. Vitamin K2 is very promising in attenuating age-related diseases and protecting cognitive function in the elderly. But the researchers caution that more research is needed to determine whether the new findings can be translated from rats to humans, and to determine the optimal source and dose of vitamin K for potential brain benefits.

What are the regulations for the application of vitamin K2 in food?

① Nutritional supplement

"Announcement of the National Health and Family Planning Commission on New Varieties of Food Additives such as Calcium Alginate" (No. 8 of 2016), "Announcement of 28 "Three New Foods" such as Glucoamylase" (No. 6 of 2019) Fermented and synthetic vitamin K2 are separately approved as a source of vitamin K compounds.

According to the above regulations, vitamin K2 is used as a food nutrition fortifier and can be used to formulate milk powder (only for children's milk powder, only for pregnant women's milk powder).

It is worth mentioning that in October 2021, the National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment issued a notice on the public solicitation of opinions on 11 new food additives such as quinoline yellow aluminum lake. Among them, the application of vitamin K2 to expand the scope of use can be applied to modulated milk powder (excluding children's milk powder and maternal milk powder) (food category 01.03.02) and formula foods for special medical purposes (except for the varieties involved in 13.01) (food category 13.03). The opinion specifically pointed out that vitamin K2 has the effect of increasing bone calcium, and once again clearly emphasized the important value of vitamin K2 for human bone health.

② Health food

For health food, vitamin K2 has been included in the health food filing catalogue and will be implemented from March 1, 2021. Currently, only fermented vitamin K2 is allowed for filing. The active ingredient of vitamin K2 (fermentation method), the upper limit of daily dosage of vitamin K2 (measured as menadione heptaene) is 100µg (14-17 years old, adults and pregnant women).

In the case of vitamin K2, due to its role as a source of vitamin K compounds, currently, only "vitamin K supplementation" can be claimed on the label. According to Shuzhengkang News, the health food products previously registered with vitamin K2 mainly claim to "supplement vitamin K" or "increase bone density".