25 Mar Dietary Vitamin K Linked to Lower Heart Disease, Cancer Mortality

MedicalResearch.com Interview with
Mònica Bulló PhD
Human Nutrition Unit Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology
IISPV  School of Medicine
Rovira i Virgili University
Sant Llorenç, Spain

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?

Dr Bulló: There is some evidence that different dietary forms of vitamin K could exert varying effects on health, however no study to date has simultaneously evaluated the potential effects of the main vitamin K forms on cancer and cardiovascular mortality. We conducted a prospective, epidemiologic study involving 7,216 elderly subjects at high cardiovascular risk who were followed for about 5 years.The results of the present study show, for the first time that an increase in dietary intake of both forms of vitamin K is related to a lower risk of cardiovascular mortality, cancer mortality or all-cause mortality.

MedicalResearch.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?

Dr Bulló: Our findings are not unexpected if we consider previous results of our group showing a beneficial effect of vitamin K on type 2 diabetes and inflammatory profile. However, highlight the potential role of vitamin k beyond the coagulation thus extending the pleiotropic role of the vitamin discovered by Dr Enrik Dam .

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr Bulló: Physicians should be aware of the potential role of vitamin K in chronic inflammatory diseases. However, our results should be interpreted cautious because to find correlation doesn’t always infer causality and additional confirmatory data is necessary.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr Bulló: Vitamin K emerges as a promising nutritional strategy in the prevention and/or progression of inflammatory chronic diseases. However, long-term intervention studies are needed to definitively confirm whether increased vitamin K intake can prolong life in this way and also the molecular mechanism underlying this beneficial role.

Citation:

Dietary Intake of Vitamin K Is Inversely Associated with Mortality Risk J. Nutr. 2014 jn.113.187740; first published online March 19, 2014. doi:10.3945/jn.113.187740

Martí Juanola-Falgarona, Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Miguel Ángel Martínez-González, Dolores Corella, Ramón Estruch, Emili Ros, Montserrat Fitó, Fernando Arós, Enrique Gómez-Gracia, Miquel Fiol, José Lapetra, Josep Basora, Rosa María Lamuela-Raventós, Lluis Serra-Majem, Xavier Pintó, Miguel Ángel Muñoz, Valentina Ruiz-Gutiérrez, Joan Fernández-Ballart, and Mònica Bulló

Last Updated on March 25, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD