Vitamin K2 Reduces Heart Disease by 57 Percent

Dr Leon Schurgers says vitamin K2 can reduce heart disease by 57 percent. Dr. Schurgers is a graduate of the prestigious University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. He currently leads research at the world renowned Cardiovascular Research Institute.
Research shows that Americans have too much calcium in their arteries and not enough in their bones. It's called the Calcium paradox. And it leads to osteoporosis and heart disease.
Dr Schurgers says that it is not because we get too little calcium in our diet, but because we get too little vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 controls where your calcium goes. That is the key to heart health.
A diet rich in vitamin K2 get calcium into your bones while removing it from your arteries. If your diet is low in vitamin K2, you get calcium deposits in your arteries. That leads to plaque and calcification and ends in heart disease and heart attack.
Headed up by Dr. Schurgers, the Rotterdam Heart Study followed 4,800 participants for seven years. It's the largest clinical trial to directly link vitamin K2 to heart disease.
The study showed that people who got plenty of vitamin K2 in their diet had 57 percent fewer heart attacks than those who didn't.
The study also showed that plaque results when calcium leaves you bones and ends up in your arteries. This plaque leads to heart disease. It presents heart disease in a whole new light.
If there's a vitamin K2 there's got to be a vitamin K1. Vitamin Ki is found in green, leafy vegetables like spinach.
A study at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands studied 16,057 women for eight years. The women had no coronary heart disease at the start of the study. The studies followed their intake of vitamin K1 and vitamin K2. The women getting Vitamin K1 had 480 incidents of heart attack over the eight years. But the women getting vitamin K2 again had a 57 percent lower rate.
Researchers concluded that vitamin K1 had little effect on cardiovacular health, but vitamin K2 dramatically reduced it.
How do you get vitamin K2 into your diet? Vitamin K2 is found largely in meats and eggs. Be sure to buy lean UNPROCESSED meats. Also, a very good source of vitamin K2 is from vitamin K2 supplements or from the Japanese food Natto which is by far the richest source of vitamin K2.

Leptin: How Diabetes and Obesity Are Linked

Leptin is the way that your body fat speaks to your brain to let your brain know how much energy is available and, very importantly, what to do with it. Studies have shown that leptin plays significant if not primary roles in heart disease, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases, reproductive disorders, and perhaps the rate of aging itself. Many chronic diseases are now linked to excess inflammation such as heart disease and diabetes. High leptin levels are very pro-inflammatory, and leptin also helps to mediate the manufacture of other very potent inflammatory chemicals from fat cells that also play a significant role in the progression of heart disease and diabetes.
Leptin plays a far more important role in your health than, for instance, cholesterol, however few doctors are taught to pay attention to it, or even know much about it. Leptin's critical importance is largely unknown to the medical community because there are no know drugs that regulate its activities and therefore there is no incentive to spend money to educate doctors about leptin's critical role in health and disease. The only known way to reestablish proper leptin (and insulin) signaling is via diet and, as such, there can have a more profound effect on your health than any other know modality of medical treatment.
Many studies have shown that the brain and liver are of paramount importance in regulating your blood sugar levels especially in type 2 or insulin resistant diabetes. It had been previously believed that the insulin sensitivity of muscle and fat tissues are the most important factor in determining whether one would become diabetic or not. It should be noted that leptin plays a vital role in regulating your brain's hypothalamic activity which regulates much of your "autonomic" functions: those functions that you don't necessarily think about but which determines much of your life and health such as:

Body temperature
Heart rate
Hunger
Stress response
Fat burning or storage
Reproductive behavior and
Newly discovered roles in bone growth and BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS

Past studies have also show the complexity of hormonal orchestration. Especially with very important hormones like insulin and leptin with far ranging effects, a particular cell can be resistant to one effect while the other stays intact. For instance, it had been shown previously that cells may become resistant to the effects of insulin on glucose influx (which may be protective in limiting the amount of glucose entering cells and thus intracellular glycation), while that same cell may not become resistant to the effects if insulin on cellular proliferation that tell cells to multiply, as these are mediated by two separate pathways.
THUS A PERSON WITH HIGH INSULIN LEVELS, BEING INSULIN RESISTANT IN REGARDS TO GLUCOSE, WOULD STILL BE AT A MUCH HIGHER RISK OF CANCER, AND THIS INDEED IS WHAT HAPPENS: HIGH INSULIN LEVELS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH MANY COMMON FORMS OF CANCER. ALSO, DIFFERENT ORGAN SYSTEMS BECOME RESISTANT AT DIFFERENT RATES. THEREFORE, JUST TAKING OR ARTIFICIALLY RAISING (BY DRUGS) INSULIN, AND/OR LEPTIN, WILL NOT CORRECT THE PROBLEMS IN THE ORCHESTRATION OF THE SIGNALS, ANY MORE THAN PLAYING THE TUBA LOUDER WILL FIX MISTAKES IN THE WRITTEN MUSIC.
A DIET THAT EMPHASIZES GOOD FATS AND AVOIDS BLOOD SUGAR SPIKES COUPLED WITH TARGETED SUPPLEMENTS TO ENHANCE INSULIN AND LEPTIN SENSITIVITY SUCH AS THE ROSEDALE DIET WILL INCREASE YOUR CELL'S ABILITY TO HEAR HORMONAL MESSAGES CORRECTLY.
The above article was from a lecture by Dr. Ron Rosedale, who is an expert on leptin physiology. We will have more on the role of leptin in the future as it takes a little while to fully comprehend the important role of leptin in good health.

You Need Vitamin K2 to Prevent Arterial Plaque & Heart Disease

Accumulating evidence suggests that atherosclerotic calcification shares features with bone calcification. Vascular calcification, or harding of the arteries, is common and clinically significant in atherosclerosis (Coronary artery disease) and heart failure. It was long believed to be an end stage process of "passive" mineral precipitation. However, there is now a growing awareness that vascular calcification is a biologically regulated phenomenon.

In addition to being involved in the formation of osteocalcin, vitamin K2 is known to be involved in the formation of matrix Gla-protein (MGP). Osteocalcin is a protein produced by the osteoblasts, and is utilized within the bone as an integral part of the process of its formation. However, osteocalcin must be carboxylated before it can be effective in bone formation. Vitamin K2 functions as a cofactor for the enzyme that catalyzes the carboxylation of osteocalcin.

MGP is synthesized in a vitamin K2-dependent way in smooth muscles cells of the healthy vessel wall.

A SIMPLE EXPLANATION OF THE PREVIOUS THREE PARAGRAPHS. WHEN YOU HAVE A PROPER LEVEL OF VITAMIN K2 IN YOUR BODY, EITHER FROM YOUR DIET OR SUPPLEMENTS, THE VITAMIN K2 TAKES THE CALCIUM WHICH NORMALLY WOULD BE DEPOSITED IN THE ARTERIES, CARTILAGE AND SOFT TISSUES, AND DEPOSITS IT IN THE BONES WHERE IT BUILDS STRONG BONES. THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT YOU HAVE MUCH LESS HEART DISEASE, PAIN IN THE JOINTS AND MUCH STRONGER BONES.

You can get vitamin K2 from your diet or supplements. The best foods are dark leafy vegetables, cheese, eggs and fermented foods such as the Japanese food Natto. A good policy is to also take vitamin K2 pills, which are a little expensive, but are a very good source of vitamin K2.

Vitamin K2 Shows Potential in the Fight Against Wrinkles

Recent studies have linked vitamin k2 to the elasticity of skin in patients suffering from pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), an inherited condition resulting in severe wrinkling of the skin on the face and body.

Scientists see a strong link between the skin's elastic qualities and an adequate intake of vitamin k2 in the diet or by taking supplements.

The loss of elastic qualities is due to the calcification of the elastic fibers in the skin. The high concentrations of calcium and phosphate in the extracellular space would lead to calcification if it wasn't inhibited by families of proteins.

The recent study published online in the journal Laboratory Investigation illustrates the involvement of carboxyglutamic acid protein (MGP) in the inhibition of calcium precipitation in suffers of PXE. However this protein must be activated by a vitamin k2 enzyme.

Also, prior research has shown that individuals who are unable to metabolise vitamin k2 also exhibit the PXE symptoms, thereby confirming the role of vitamin k2 in the prevention of skin wrinkling.

What Diabetes Can Do To Your Body

Peripheral neuropathy is nerve damage caused by chronically high blood sugar and diabetes. It leads to numbness, loss of sensation, and sometimes pain in your feet, legs, or hands. It is the most common complication of diabetes.

About 60 to 70 percent of all people with diabetes will eventually develop peripheral neuropathy, althought not all suffer pain. Yet this nerve damage is not inevitable. Studies have show that people with diabetes can reduce their risk of developing nerve damage by keeping their blood sugar levels as close to normal as possible.

What causes peripheral neuropathy? Chronically high blood sugar levels damage nerves not only in your extremities but also in other parts of your body. These damaged nerves cannot effectively carry messages between the brain and other parts of the body.

This means you may not feel heat, cold, or pain in your feet, legs, or hands. If you get a cut or sore on your foot, you may not know it, which is why it's so important to inspect your feet daily. If a shoe doesn't fit properly, you can even develop a foot ulcer and not know it.

"The consequences can be extraordinarily devastating and life threatening," Tom Elasy, MD, director of the Diabetes Clinic at Vandebilt University in Nashville. "An infection that will not heal because of poor blood flow causes risk for developing ulcers and can lead to amputation, even death."

This nerve damage show itself differently in each person. Some people feel tingling, then later feel pain. Other people lose the feeling in fingers and toes; they have numbness. These changes happen slowly over a period of years, so you might not even notice it.

"It's not like you wake up one morning and feel it," Elasy says. "The changes are very subtle. And because it happens as people get older, they tend to ignore the little tingles or subtle loss of sensation that is occurring--the signs of nerve damage. They thing it's just part of getting older."

But there are treatments that can help slow the progression of this condition and limit the damage. "We have a lot options for management of this condition," Elasy says. "Don't be too stoic. Talk to your doctors about it. This is important stuff. But the bad news is, it can get worse. If you got tingling now, in 10 years it can be painful."

Symptoms of nerve damage from diabetes can include numbness, tingling, pins and needles, prickling, burning, cold, pinching, buzzing and sharp deep stabs.

Still others have exaggerated sensitivity to touch. "The minute you touch them, they feel extreme pain," Elasy explains. "When they lay a sheet over their feet at night, they are exquisitely sensitive to that touch."

Fasting on a Regular Basis Benefits Your Health and your Heart

While a large majority of Utahns and Mormons around the world perform a periodic fast for religious purposes, doctors are now saying it would be a health conscious and heart conscious thing to do as well.

"We've shown it is not a chance finding. Fasting is not just an indicator for other healthy lifestyles. It is actually the fasting that is working to reduce the risk of disease," Dr Benjamin D Horne said Thursday in the Deseret News.

Horne is among more than a dozen doctors with Intermountain Medical Center's Heart Institute who discovered the most recent round of physiological benefits from fasting and are presenting their findings at the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans.

"Fasting causes hunger or stress,. In response, the body releases more cholesterol, allowing it to utilize fat as a source of fuel, instead of glucose. This decreases the number of fat cells in the body," Horne said.

The fewer fat cells a person has, the less likely they are to have elevated cholesterol, insulin resistance, or diabetes, he said.

Doctors found that skipping at least two meals on a regular basis led to a dramatic increase of human growth hormone (HGH), which plays a metabolic role in adults, regulating glucose and insulin within the body, "so you are burning fat cells when you fast." Horne said.

During a 24 hour fasting periods, he said HGH increased to an average of 1,300 percent in women and nearly 2,000 percent in men, as part of the study.

The newest research expands on a 2007 study that revealed an association between fasting and reduced risk of coronary artery disease-the leading cause of death among men and women in America, according to Intermountain Healthcare. IT SHOWS THAT FASTING WAS ALSO FOUND TO REDUCE OTHER CARDIAC RISK FACTORS, SUCH AS TRIGLYCERIDES, WEIGHT AND BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS.

Perhaps fasting on a regular basis could become part of current programs to prevent, control or reduce type two diabetes.

Vitamin K2 Reduces Risk of Type-2 Diabetes

There has been many recent research studies showing important health benefits from getting adequate amounts of vitamin D3 and that Vitamin D3 is a miracle vitamin. There is also another miracle vitamin, vitamin K. The general public knows almost nothing about vitamin K and its great importance to good health. In the next few blogs we will talk about how vitamin K can greatly reduce and reverse calcium buildup in the arteries,increase heart health, improve bone health,reduce the chance of varicose veins,reduce risk of many cancers including prostate cancer,reduce the risk of type-2 diabetes and yes ladies, reduce wrinkles.

Increased intakes of vitamin K2 reduces the risk of developing type-2 diabetes, says a new study with almost 40,000 Dutch men and women.

For every increase of 10 micrograms of vitamin K2 intake the risk of type-2 diabetes was reduced by 7 percent, according to findings published in Diabetes care.

Type-2 diabetes affects almost 24 million Americans, equal to 8 percent of the population. The total costs are thought to be as much as $174 billion, with $116 billion being direct costs from medication, according to 2005-2007 American Diabetes Association figures. These cost are much higher now as type-2 diabetes is increasing each year.

There are two main forms of vitamin k: phylloquinone, also know as phytonadione, (vitamin K1) and menaquinones (vitamin K2). K1 is found in green leafy vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli and spinach, and makes up about 90 percent of the vitamin K in a typical Western diet; while K2, which makes up about 10 percent of Western vitamin K consumption and can be synthesised in the gut by microflora.

There are various forms of menaquinones, and these can also be found in the diet: Menaquinone-4, for example, can be found in animal meat, while menaquinones-7, -8, and-9 are found in fermented food products like cheese, and natto is a rich source of menaquinone-7.

Natto is a Japanese original and traditional food make from fermented soybeans. It can be purchased from Japanese food stores or from some health food stores.

You can also buy supplements in pill form than contain vitamin K.

In summary, to increase your intake of vitamin K eat green leafy vegetables, meat, cheese, natto, or if you choose supplements that contain vitamin K. By way of interest, Natto contains by far the highest amount and best form of vitamin K.