Vitamin D, or “the sunshine vitamin” has received quite a bit of attention over the past few years. Recently, the recommended amounts for Vitamin D increased for people of all ages. This is of great concern as Vitamin D is not found in many foods and virtually all North Americans are deficient.

Vitamin D is a nutrient that helps your body function, ward off disease and absorb calcium. Calcium and vitamin D work together to help you maintain healthy bones and teeth. Vitamin D also helps your muscles, nerves and immune system work properly. Recent research has shown that vitamin D may be linked to lowering the risk of diseases such as multiple sclerosis and some cancers.

When sun exposure presents a health risk to sensitive skin, how can you obtain the Vitamin D necessary to build strong bones and teeth and to ward off disease? Health Canada and the Canadian Medical Association agree that supplementation is the safest, most effective way for you to receive this important nutrient without risk of overexposure to sun.

BUT….

Vitamin D is not the whole story. Vitamin D needs some help to be truly effective. Yes vitamin D helps move calcium from your gut into your bloodstream, but it has no impact on where the calcium goes from there. This can actually be a problem if calcium ends up where you don’t want it to be. Calcium buildup in arteries leads to atherosclerosis. This is the condition where the calcium lines arteries, narrowing them and causing them to stiffen, a leading cause of heart disease and death across North America.

Here’s where Vitamin D’s tag-team partner comes in. Vitamin K2 takes the calcium both from the bloodstream and the arteries, and packs it in to bones and teeth. K2 is so efficient at this process that it can actually reverse atherosclerosis.

What is Vitamin K2 and How Does It Work?

Vitamin K2 exists in two distinct forms: MK-4 and MK-7.  These forms have unique chemical structures and different activities, benefits, and uses.  Vitamin K2 plays a key role in bone mineralization by activating a protein called Osteocalcin, which binds calcium and deposits it into the bones.  Once activated, osteocalcin helps bring calcium into the bone matrix, thereby enhancing bone density and strength.

In addition to supporting bone health, Vitamin K2 prevents calcium from depositing in places where it shouldn’t, such as soft tissues.  It does this by activating another protein called Matrix-Gla Protein (MGP), which keeps calcium from building up in tissues like blood vessels, kidneys, lungs, skin, and other conditions related to soft tissue calcification.

Together, osteocalcin and MGP ensure that calcium is properly directed into the bones and kept out of vital organs such as the heart, arteries, and kidneys.  Without Vitamin K2, none of this would be possible.

M-4 VS. MK-7

While both MK-4 and MK-7 activate osteocalcin and MGP, MK-7 is more effective because it remains in the body much longer than MK-4.  Due to it’s larger structure, MK-7 circulates in the body for several days, providing a sustained effect.  This allows your bones more time to utilize the MK-7, and it creates a “savings account” of MK-7 that can be drawn upon to maintain continuous support for osteocalcin and MGP activation.

In contrast, MK-4 is cleared from the body within 6-8 hours.  Therefore, it must be take multiple times a day, often in much higher doses than MK-7, to maintain its benefits.  Given its longer availability, MK-7 requires much smaller doses to provide consistent support for bone health and disease prevention.

For these reasons, MK-& is the superior form of Vitamin K2, particularly when it comes to supporting bone health and preventing disease.

Pure-le Organics Vitamin D3+K2 combines the synergistic power of our clinically proven, soy-free Menaquinone-7 (MK-7) vitamin K2 with D3 for maximum absorption, stability and effectiveness.