Why We Use Vitamin K1 And Not Vitamin K2 In The ThinkPharm Formula (Vitamin K Part 2)
Why not put both vitamin K1 and vitamin K2 into the ThinkPharm Formula? When we were originally designing the ThinkPharm Formula we wanted both vitamin K1 and vitamin K2. We then found out more about the reality of vitamin K2 supplements.
There’s 2 forms of K2 that can be used, MK-4 and MK-7. MK-4 is not a very stable molecule, meaning it easily gets broken down whilst it sits on the shelf and no longer works. Manufacturers will often compensate for this by adding a whole load of synthetic antioxidants (like vitamin E) and stabilisers, such that it’s only about 10% vitamin K2 (MK-4). If you remember our article about antioxidants, synthetic antioxidants are something we really want to avoid.
Vitamin K1 doesn’t have this same stability issue, which is why we use it. The MK-7 form of K2 supposedly doesn’t have the stability issues, but it seems that it can cause some side effects such as palpitations.
If you search “vitamin K2 MK-7 and heart palpitations” online, you will see stories of people who have tried MK-7 and had heart palpitations with this form but have been fine with other forms. This makes sense when you realise that the MK-7 sticks around in the blood for a long time (compared to other forms) (1) (2). Vitamin K helps the body bind up calcium in the bloodstream and put it into bones and other places where it’s useful. In doing so, it temporarily lowers blood calcium, which is important for muscle contraction (3), including heart muscles. This is why low calcium levels may cause heart palpitations, as it is known that a symptom of low calcium levels is abnormal heart rhythms (3).
Under normal circumstances, when blood calcium is too low, your body can take calcium out of the bones and release it into the blood to maintain normal blood levels (a process called bone resorption). The problem is that vitamin K blocks bone resorption (4) (5), so with MK-7 the calcium is being put away and can’t be released back out as and when needed. This is why it’s actually good that MK-4 doesn’t stick around in the blood for very long, because it means your body can still regulate its calcium levels if they get too low. This is also why vitamin K1 is good because the body converts it to MK-4, so the body has the chance to choose how much to convert.
In fact, zinc (6) and magnesium (7) have both been shown to regulate this conversion. This is great news because both those nutrients also increase calcium absorption into the blood by converting vitamin D into its active form (8) (9) (10) (This was also mentioned in our article on zinc and vitamin D synergy).
This is ideal because at the same time that calcium absorption increases, the body converts more K1 into MK-4, to put the extra calcium in the right places. This is why we use vitamin K1 in the ThinkPharm Formula in combination with zinc and magnesium.
Of all the studies people quote to talk about the benefits of vitamin K2 over K1, there is one that pops up quite a bit.
This study that looked at what people ate over a number of years. They found that vitamin K1 intake from foods wasn’t significantly associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease whereas vitamin K2 intake from foods was (11). The vitamin K1 group still showed some benefits in terms of risk, they just weren’t statistically significant.
The main thing to consider is how they defined high intake of vitamin K1. The “high intake” group was consuming above 278micrograms. They were not consuming a 1000microgram supplement which we know is needed to maximise the benefits of vitamin K (something we know from our first page on vitamin K).
As the author states, 278micrograms of vitamin K1 from vegetables is not absorbed so well because of plant fibre (11). So, the effects would have been greater if they were using a supplement of the same dose, which doesn’t contain plant fibre.
Here is where it gets interesting: 278 micrograms is roughly 4 times less than 1000micrograms. This means the high vitamin K1 intake group may only experience a magnitude of risk reduction about 4 times less than the maximum of what’s achievable with vitamin K1*. If you take these new theoretical results and you compare them to the magnitude of risk reduction observed with higher consumption of vitamin K2, you can see that the risk reduction from 1000micrograms of vitamin K1 would be equal to or even greater than the risk reduction from the highest vitamin K2 intake.
This is why we believe 1000micrograms of vitamin K1 in supplement form should still provide with all the benefits of vitamin K2.
* = This assumes that vitamin K1 dose is directly proportional to reduced cardiac risk between dose ranges of 250micrograms to 1000micrograms. There is currently no data to assess this assumption but it sounds reasonable to us.
If you still want more vitamin K2 from foods, there’s a database of foods containing vitamin K2 at the bottom of the article you can find here. It’s a long article so press Ctrl + F on your browser and type in “the database” to find it (12).
Vitamin K2 may be important if we are relying on foods alone for our nutrition, however we believe that when it comes to supplementation, 1000micrograms of vitamin K1 is the safest approach. There is no known Vitamin K1 toxicity at any dose. Usually a nutrient will have a tolerable upper limit intake below which no adverse effects are expected. This was never set for vitamin K1 as no adverse effects were ever found (13). The dose we use is also a dose that can naturally be achieved through dietary intake, which adds further support in terms of safety.
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For more information about how taking the ThinkPharm Formula would improve your life check out our other articles about how it was designed.
For a vitamin supplement that doesn’t profit from your misinformation and actually tries to improve your health, get your hands on the ThinkPharm Formula. Check out the formula on our product page.
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Disclaimer: Food supplements are intended to correct nutritional deficiencies, maintain an adequate intake of certain nutrients, or to support specific physiological functions. The ThinkPharm Formula (or any other food supplement) is not a medicine and therefore cannot and does not claim to treat or prevent disease. All content on this website is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. None of the scientific studies quoted on this website qualify as proof or implication that ThinkPharm Health's supplements treat or prevent disease. Findings of scientific studies do not always represent reality. It is always difficult for scientific studies to reach accurate conclusions regarding nutrition and its relationship to diseases. Please consult your healthcare professional before making any significant changes to your diet and lifestyle. ThinkPharm Health is not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting on information from this website.