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Effects of Vitamin K on Bone Mass and Bone Metabolism¹

Cees Vermeer², Birgit L. M. G. Gijsbers, Alexandra M. Crciun, Monique M. C. L. Groenen-van Dooren and Marjo H. J. Knapen

Department of Biochemistry and Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, University of Limburg, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands

Vitamin K is involved in blood coagulation and in bone metabolism via the carboxylation of glutamate residues in (hepatic) blood coagulation factors and (osteoblastic) bone proteins. The bioavailability of nutritional vitamin K depends on the type of food, the dietary fat content, the length of the aliphatic side chain in the K-vitamer and probably also the genetically determined polymorphism of apolipoprotein E. Although undercarboxylation of blood coagulation factors is vary rare, undercarboxylated osteocalcin (bone Glaprotein) is frequently found in postmenopausal women. Supplementation of these women with extra vitamin K causes the markers for bone formation to increase. In parallel, a decrease of the markers for bone resorption is frequently seen. Insufficient data are available to conclude that the regular administration of vitamin K concentrates will reduce the loss of bone mass in white women at risk for developing postmenopausal osteoporosis.

KEY WORDS: • vitamin K • bone mass • bone metabolism

¹ Presented as part of the Symposium: "Nutritional Advances in Human Bone Metabolism" given at the Experimental Biology '95 meeting, Atlanta, GA, on April 11, 1995. This symposium was sponsored by the American Institute of Nutrition and supported in part by the National Dairy Council. Guest editor for the symposium publication was John J. B. Anderson, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.

² To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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