The topic of vitamin K and blood pressure has been coming up for years among followers of Peat. He mentioned several cases, of which he had first-hand knowledge, where people managed to significantly and rapidly reduce their blood pressure by taking large doses of vitamin K. A number of naysayers kept bashing Ray and his claims about vitamin K, saying there is no evidence whatsoever that vitamin K reduces blood pressure, and that in fact there is no known mechanism through which vitamin K can effect blood pressure. Well, as a start, here is a decade-old case study reporting that not only can vitamin K lower blood pressure it can do so to the point of hypotension (depending on the dose).
Hypotension associated with menaquinone - PubMed
And now, the controlled, randomized human study below demonstrated that vitamin K can indeed lower blood pressure consistently and the likely mechanism is the reversal of vascular stiffness, which the supplementation with vitamin K also achieved. Vascular stiffness is a symptom of vascular calcification, and vitamin K has been shown in numerous animal studies (and now human ones) to be able to prevent/reverse said calcification. So, considering vitamin K not only effectively lowers blood pressure but actually treats the underlying cause, it probably won't be long before vitamin K becomes a regulated drug in the West, mimicking its prescription-only status in many Asian countries. That would be the only way to prevent/limit the damage vitamin K can do to the multi-billion dollar CVD drug industry.
Beneficial effects of one-year menaquinone-7 supplementation on vascular stiffness and blood pressure in post-menopausal women
Study results demonstrating vascular benefits of MK-7 in menopausal women presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress
"...In post-hoc analyses, results showed that both pre/peri-menopausal and post-menopausal subjects taking MK-7 saw a significant decrease in dp-ucMGP plasma levels. In post-menopausal women, supplementation with MK-7 significantly attenuated vascular stiffness in post-menopausal women, and those with a high stiffness index saw significant improvements in vascular markers such as decreased blood pressure at brachialis, decreased blood pressure at carotid artery, increased distensibility coefficient and increased compliance coefficient. The study concluded that hormonal changes do in fact negatively impact the vasculature of post-menopausal women, and that MK-7 may attenuate these changes. However, more research is necessary to determine the mechanism by which MK-7 exerts these benefits. “This abstract strengthens the proof that K2 as MenaQ7 supports healthy cardiovascular function in aging women and can serve as an inexpensive tool for protecting heart health,” said Professor Leon Schurgers, lead researcher on the post-hoc analysis and chair of the Gnosis Vitamin K2 Scientific Advisory Committee, in a press release."
Hypotension associated with menaquinone - PubMed
And now, the controlled, randomized human study below demonstrated that vitamin K can indeed lower blood pressure consistently and the likely mechanism is the reversal of vascular stiffness, which the supplementation with vitamin K also achieved. Vascular stiffness is a symptom of vascular calcification, and vitamin K has been shown in numerous animal studies (and now human ones) to be able to prevent/reverse said calcification. So, considering vitamin K not only effectively lowers blood pressure but actually treats the underlying cause, it probably won't be long before vitamin K becomes a regulated drug in the West, mimicking its prescription-only status in many Asian countries. That would be the only way to prevent/limit the damage vitamin K can do to the multi-billion dollar CVD drug industry.
Beneficial effects of one-year menaquinone-7 supplementation on vascular stiffness and blood pressure in post-menopausal women
Study results demonstrating vascular benefits of MK-7 in menopausal women presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress
"...In post-hoc analyses, results showed that both pre/peri-menopausal and post-menopausal subjects taking MK-7 saw a significant decrease in dp-ucMGP plasma levels. In post-menopausal women, supplementation with MK-7 significantly attenuated vascular stiffness in post-menopausal women, and those with a high stiffness index saw significant improvements in vascular markers such as decreased blood pressure at brachialis, decreased blood pressure at carotid artery, increased distensibility coefficient and increased compliance coefficient. The study concluded that hormonal changes do in fact negatively impact the vasculature of post-menopausal women, and that MK-7 may attenuate these changes. However, more research is necessary to determine the mechanism by which MK-7 exerts these benefits. “This abstract strengthens the proof that K2 as MenaQ7 supports healthy cardiovascular function in aging women and can serve as an inexpensive tool for protecting heart health,” said Professor Leon Schurgers, lead researcher on the post-hoc analysis and chair of the Gnosis Vitamin K2 Scientific Advisory Committee, in a press release."
