Vitamin D3, and an apparent genetic predisposition to vitamin K2. Either the MK-4 or the MK-7 type. 2/2

So does the type of vitamin K2 type matter? I am seeing it does. For example, in my case I tried both the MK-4 type, the MK-7 type and both together. What I found was when I took the MK-4 type it appeared to reverse the sleep effects of vitamin D3.

I would wake up several times a night. Not what I wanted. At the time I was taking both types. 45 mgs of the MK-4 type a day and 600 mcg’s of the MK-7 type. The reason I was taking the 45 mgs of the MK-4 type was because that was the dose used in the Japanese study.

The study that used 25,000 IU’s a day of vitamin D3 to treat osteoporosis. The study that showed a significant reduction in osteoporosis. Though I don’t have osteoporosis I wanted to see how that dose of vitamin K2 the MK-4 type at that dose had on me.

Did it improve my health in other ways? My findings on me, again on me, was no did made me worse. So, in compared to the MK-7 type it was a bust. However, a friend of mine who is suffering from severe chronic pain had tried vitamin D3 several years ago.

He stopped because when he started with optimal dosing, he had severe bone pain. At the time I didn’t have an answer. Perhaps in retrospect he wasn’t taking enough magnesium but regardless I couldn’t help him. Then I more recently have given more study and research on vitamin K2.

A Facebook site where they were discussing bone pain not only after starting higher doses of vitamin D3 then the RDA but this bone pain persisting. Persisting often for months. Something I perhaps only saw a couple times with doses triple then recommended on this Facebook site.

Yes, they weren’t pushing the magnesium as I do. So that certainly is a factor perhaps the main factor. But in some cases, something else was going on. Like in my friend with bone pain in starting optimal dosing of vitamin D3. Well on a flyer, as they say, I had him take vitamin K2 the MK-4 type.

Wow, he not only could take the vitamin d3 at optimal doses with out bone pain but went from severe chronic pain causing him to have had bad days six out of seven days a week to six good days out of seven days a week.

Which really stunned me as I explained the MK-4 type didn’t help me but for my friend changed his life. I forgot to mention he went from heavy drinking of alcohol to help with his pain to no longer drinking. Not ideal to acutely stopping drinking heavy can be dangerous.

I wasn’t aware that he did or was planning to acutely stop drinking or I would have warned him about the risks. Fortunately, he did well without any issues from stopping the alcohol. The great thing is he is on the path to optimizing his health without bone pain.

So, what does this mean? Is there a genetic predisposition to responding to one type of vitamin K2 versus another? Do perhaps our bodies do a better job of producing or ingesting one type versus another? Such that we receive/produce enough of say the MK-4 type but need to supplement with the other form.

Or perhaps our bodies are genetically predetermined to work best with one type or another. Such that we may only crave foods with one type of vitamin K2 or the other. Another possibility is we modify our gut flora to produce only the type our body works best with. So, lots of questions.

What are the differences between the MK-4 and MK-7 types? Well vitamin K2 the MK-4 type is fully absorbed in 2 hours while the MK-7 type requires 4 hours. The MK-4 type lasts only 8 hours in the blood stream while the MK-7 type lasts 72 hours. Though one study found the MK-4 type isn’t absorbed at least at lower doses. 1

This may explain some of the issues as where as in some studies the intake of vitamin K2 the MK-4 type did not increase the serum concentration of it whereas the ingestion of the MK-7 type not only increased the serum concentration of the MK-7 type but also the MK-4 type.

Whereas one of vitamin K2’s affects is on osteocalcin. 2 Osteocalcin is the part of the bone that is created by osteoblasts that incorporates calcium into the bone to create new bone. Vitamin K2, in one study, to affect osteocalcin’s activity it took a dose of at least 1,500 mcg/day of the MK-4 type. 3

Vitamin K2 being another of the vitamins, curiously a fat soluble vitamin for which we really have so little understanding about how it effects our body. And really no understanding at least through major research about how much, what type or types we need when our systems are optimized with optimal blood levels of vitamin D3.

I don’t know and again the reason more study is needed. My plan wasn’t to go into the research about vitamin K2’s general affects but that I noticed different people appeared to be affected differently and some general ways it appeared to do that. Though not really a study but only an observation based on a few data points.

What I have found in myself is taking 400-600 mcg/day of the vitamin K2 the MK-7 type (there isn’t a RDA for vitamin K2 that I can find) is it reverses atherosclerosis and boosts my immune system even more then optimal dosing of vitamin D3 and magnesium by themselves.

So, if you’re having issues starting vitamin D3 at higher doses or optimal dosing it may be one of two things. One you need to maximize your magnesium or two you need to add vitamin K2 either the MK-4, MK-7 or both types. Again, more study is needed with vitamin D3 at optimal dosing.

More study with how our body responds to optimal dosing of vitamin D3 and what other minerals, vitamins and such needs to have its RDA increased at such vitamin D3 dosing. Increased to maximize our health and longevity.

1. Sato T, Schurgers L J, Uenishi K, (2012). Comparison of menaquinone-4 and menaquinone-7 in healthy women. Nutritional J. 11:93.
2. Lee NK, Sowa H, Hinoi E, Karsenty G, et al. (Aug 2007). “Endocrine regulation of energy metabolism by the skeleton”. Cell. 130 (3): 456–69.
3. Takeuchi A, Masuda Y, Onuki M, et al. (2005). Minimal effective dose of vitamin K2 (menaquinone-4) on serum osteocalcin concentration in Japanese subjects and safety evaluation of vitamin K2 supplementation in calcium tablet. J Jpn Soc Clin Nutr. 26:254-260.

*The information posted above is for educational purposes only. Always check with your doctor before initiating any changes in your medical treatment. If you do not, then The Two-Minute Health Fact, Dr. Judson Somerville, nor The Optimal Dose is responsible!