It has been well-established that Vitamin K is helpful for bone health, particularly in cases of osteopenia and osteoarthritis, conditions that are most common among post-menopausal women. However, a recent study out of Holland suggests that maintaining adequate levels of Vitamin K during adolescence may be just as important for the long-term (and even short-term) maintenance of bone health.
The latter may sound surprising, considering the strength of the common association between bone health concerns and the autumn years. However, a recent Dutch study examined a condition called Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), which is the most common rheumatic disease of childhood. Researchers at the University Medical Centre Utrecht and the University of Maastricht recruited 55 children with JIA and 54 healthy controls, both aged from six to 18. While they found no difference in Vitamin K status between the two groups, they also found that the JIA group had a high ratio of undercarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC) to carboxylated osteocalcin (cOC). Osteocalcin is a protein produced by osteoblasts (bone building cells) and is essential for the utilization of calcium in bone tissue – and is heavily dependent on Vitamin K for its function. Without adequate Vitamin K, osteocalcin remains underutilized (re: undercarboxylated) and thus ineffective. This led Leon Schurgers, PhD from the University of Maastricht, to write: "These findings suggest that improvement in vitamin K status, and thus in the amount of active osteocalcin, might significantly improve bone health in children, even in those with arthritis”.
This is not the first study to suggest that children can benefit from Vitamin K supplementation. In a previous study reported by the British Journal of Nutrition, higher vitamin K status was associated with improved bone mineral content and greater overall bone mass amongst 307 healthy children (average age: 11). Puberty may very well be a critical time for Vitamin K supplementation, as 35% of a mature adult’s peak bone mass is generated during this relatively brief period.
Van Summeren MJ, et al. Extremes in vitamin K status of bone are related to bone ultrasound properties in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2008 May-Jun;26(3):484-91.
For more information see Vitamin K2
|
