Healthy Skeletal & Vascular Support*

Ingredients (Per Drop):

  • 5 mcg Vitamin K2 (MK-7 as MenaQ7®)
  • Organic MCT Oil

MenaQ7® is a registered trademark of NattoPharma, Norway. Patents granted and pending.

Optimize Early-Life Health with ChildLife® Clinicals Organic Vitamin K2.

Key Benefits*

  • SUPPORTS healthy skeletal and vascular systems
  • PROVIDES Menaquinone-7 as MenaQ7®
  • DELIVERS 5 mcg vitamin K2 per drop
  • CONTAINS organic MCT Oil

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Purpose: To provide clinicians with technical information to determine if the supplement in question is appropriate for their patient.

Organic Vitamin K2

ChildLife® Clinicals Organic Vitamin K2 is a dietary supplement made with MenaQ7® and organic MCT oil in a convenient
dropper.

Vitamin K

The fat-soluble Vitamin K refers to Vitamin K1, Phylloquinone, and the Vitamin K2 family of menaquinones. Menaquinones differ in their length
of isoprenoid chain, with MK-4, and MK-7 most well-studied. While Vitamin K1 is important for healthy blood clotting, vitamin K2 is known to
have extrahepatic functions.1

Phylloquinone is the main form of Vitamin K found in foods such as leafy green vegetables, and can be converted to menaquinone-4 within the
body.2 Menaquinones are produced by bacteria and found in fermented foods. Further, certain bacteria in the colon are known to produce Vitamin
K2.3

Correlations with Bone Health

Osteocalcin, the protein produced by osteoblasts in bone, requires Vitamin K2 for carboxylation.

There is a strong correlation between vitamin K status and bone health. Several studies in elderly women showed associations between low levels of vitamin K markers and hip fractures.4 In a study on healthy prepubertal children, levels of vitamin K markers improved significantly after supplementation with Vitamin K2, as menaquinone-7.5

A 2018 publication noted lower levels of carboxylated Osteocalcin in children with fractures.6

Vascular Health

Recent studies have revealed Vitamin K2’s importance in vascular health. Vitamin K is required to bring gamma-carboxyglutamate (GLA) proteins to carboxylated states.7 GLA proteins are important inhibitors of arterial calcification.8 In the 2004 publication of the Rotterdam Study, results from a 10-year cohort revealed that seniors who consumed amounts of vitamin K2 >32 mcg/d had a 50% reduction in both arterial calcification, and cardiovascular risk.9

Distribution & Insufficiency

An indicator of Vitamin K levels in the body is a measurement of the undercarboxylated GLA protein in blood. Since vitamin K is preferentially
used in the liver for hemostasis, and therefore less available for carboxylating GLA proteins, higher undercarboxylated osteocalcin may be indicative of suboptimal vitamin K levels.7,10,11

ChildLife® Clinicals Organic Vitamin K2 may be beneficial to patients in need of supplemental Vitamin K2.

References: 

  1. Sato T, Schurgers LJ, Uenishi K. Comparison of menaquinone-4 and menaquinone-7 bioavailability in healthy women. Nutr J. 2012;11:93. Published 2012 Nov 12. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-11-93.
  2. Suttie JW. Vitamin K. In: Ross AC, Caballero B, Cousins RJ, Tucker KL, Ziegler TR, eds. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease. 11th ed. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2014:305-16.
  3. Fernandez F, Collins MD. 1987. Vitamin K composition of anaerobic gut bacteria. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 41: 175–180.
  4. Vergnaud P, Garnero P, Meunier PJ, Bréart G, Kamihagi K, Delmas PD. Undercarboxylated osteocalcin measured with a specific immunoassay predicts hip fracture in elderly women: The EPIDOS Study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1997;82:719–724.
  5. Van Summeren MJ, Braam LA, Lilien MR, Schurgers LJ, Kuis W, Vermeer C. The effect of menaquinone-7 (vitamin K2) supplementation on osteocalcin carboxylation in healthy prepubertal children. Br J Nutr 2009;102:1171–1178. doi: 10.1017/S0007114509382100.
  6. Popko J, Karpiński M, Chojnowska S, et al. Decreased Levels of Circulating Carboxylated Osteocalcin in Children with Low Energy Fractures: A Pilot Study. Nutrients. 2018;10(6):734. doi:10.3390/nu10060734.
  7. Theuwissen E, Smit E, Vermeer C. The role of vitamin K in soft-tissue calcification. Adv Nutr. 2012;3(2):166–173.
  8. Cranenburg EC, Vermeer C, Koos R, Boumans ML, Hackeng TM, Bouwman FG, Kwaijtaal M, Brandenburg VM, Ketteler M, Schurgers LJ. The circulating inactive form of matrix Gla Protein (ucMGP) as a biomarker for cardiovascular calcification. J Vasc Res. 2008;45:427–436. doi: 10.1159/000124863.
  9. Geleijnse JM, Vermeer C, Grobbee DE, Schurgers LJ, Knapen MH, van der Meer IM, Hofman A, Witteman JC (2004) Dietary intake of menaquinone is associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease: the Rotterdam Study. J Nutr 134:3100–3105.
  10. Shearer MJ, Newman P. Metabolism and cell biology of vitamin K. Thromb Haemost. 2008;100(4):530–47.
  11. Shearer MJ, Newman P. Recent trends in the metabolism and cell biology of vitamin K with special reference to vitamin K cycling and MK-4 biosynthesis. J Lipid Res. 2014;55(3):345–362. doi:10.1194/jlr.R045559.