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Vitamins and plant ingredients

Vitamin K-induced effects on body fat and weight: results from a 3-year vitamin K2 intervention study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 72, pages 136–141 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Vitamin K status has been linked to fat and glucose metabolism by several authors, but whether high vitamin K intake influences body weight or composition has remained unclear. Here we tested the hypothesis that increased vitamin K intake decreases body fat or fat distribution.

Subjects/Methods:

In a randomized placebo-controlled human intervention trial, 214 postmenopausal women, 55–65 years of age, received either 180 mcg/day of vitamin K2 (menaquinone-7, MK-7) or placebo for 3 years. Osteocalcin (OC) carboxylation was used as a marker for vitamin K status, and fat distribution was assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry total body scan.

Results:

In the total cohort, MK-7 supplementation increased circulating carboxylated OC (cOC) but had no effect on body composition. In those with an above-median response in OC carboxylation (‘good responders’), MK-7 treatment resulted in a significant increase in total and human molecular weight adiponectin and a decrease in abdominal fat mass and in the estimated visceral adipose tissue area compared with the placebo group and the poor responders.

Conclusions:

The fact that changes in body composition measures or markers for fat or glucose metabolism were not associated with changes in uncarboxylated OC (ucOC) does not support the assumption that ucOC stimulates fat metabolism in humans. Instead, high vitamin K2 intake may support reducing body weight, abdominal and visceral fat, notably in subjects showing a strong increase in cOC. A causal relation between the changes in cOC and body fat or distribution cannot be concluded from these data.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by NattoPharma (Høvik, Norway). The sponsor had no role in the design, analysis or writing of this article.

Author contributions

CV contributed to the design of the study and was involved in the interpretation of the findings and preparation of the manuscript; MHJK was involved in the conduct of the study and performed the statistical analyses. MHJK and KMJ contributed to the interpretation of the findings and to the preparation of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. R&D Group VitaK, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    M H J Knapen, K M Jardon & C Vermeer

Authors
  1. M H J Knapen
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  2. K M Jardon
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  3. C Vermeer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M H J Knapen.

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Knapen, M., Jardon, K. & Vermeer, C. Vitamin K-induced effects on body fat and weight: results from a 3-year vitamin K2 intervention study. Eur J Clin Nutr 72, 136–141 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2017.146

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