Vitamin K2, soft tissue calcification, and ODD dosing differences between the research and what humans can buy as a supplement.
If the powers that be want our pineal glands to be calcified, then they might actively suppress research into Vit. K2, and might limit the supplements that are available.
Presenting some shiny tinfoil and math…
This section in the Ototoxicity series was intriguing because I was already aware that something odd seemed to be going on with vitamin K2 and soft tissue calcification research. Great results! Why wasn’t equivalent great results being trialed with humans? Why were supplements available in such low doses?
Math matters…
There is a strong association between low levels of 25-D (inactive vitamin D) and hearing loss, particularly in the elderly. Bilateral, both ears, and SSNHL. (Brave AI Summary) Vitamin D is needed for immune function, but it and vitamin K2 are critically important in calcium/magnesium metabolism. Interestingly, Brave AI can find no research on the role of vitamin K or K2 on hearing loss. A search on PubMed found a case report of ten patients who had SSNHL occur during vitamin K inhibiting oral anticoagulant therapy. Three of the cases did not improve. (Mierzwa, et al., 2004)
“It was not possible to demonstrate a relationship between the SSNHL and oral anticoagulation. Vascular compromise cannot be excluded as a cause for sudden hearing loss in patients undergoing oral anticoagulant therapy. It is possible that oral anticoagulants influence the viscosity of the plasma leading to interference with the microcirculation in the inner ear. Further research into this area is currently being conducted.” (Mierzwa, et al., 2004)
Presenting as odd - my search ‘vitamin K inner ear’ - Search Results - PubMed. I got lucky with one full Abstract in English. Despite Mierzwa, et al’s encouraging suggestion that research is underway, that was one of only six results. The others - no Abstract available, and old and foreign… in Japanese, 1969, (/4884757/), German, 1963, /13927594/; Italian, 1959, /13808171/; Italian, 1957, [Relations between cochleovestibular lesions and liver changes caused by streptomycin and therapeutic possibilities of liver protective substances] /13509982/; English, but 1925, Ménière's syndrome; observations on vitamin deficiency as the causative factor; the cochlear disturbance, *this surfaces for ‘vitamin K’ so that may have been a keyword /15393403/. Survivor bias logic - anything newer than 1970 and in English has been removed from the database…. just a guess…. and anticoagulant therapy is probably not good for hearing health….
“The role of vitamin D in Meniere's disease is unclear as no cause has been identified for the increase in endolymphatic fluid.” (Hamayal, et al., 2024)
Additionally, rats raised with extra vitamin K2, “(30 mg/kg, once daily 5 days per week)”, throughout their ‘adult’ timespan, from age 3 months, for the next 17 months and compared to the control group being raised on standard lab animal diet. There was a clear improvement in age or inflammation related biomarkers and healthier hippocampus and cerebral cortex tissue. See: ‘Vitamin K2 (Menaquinone-7) Reverses Age-Related Structural and Cognitive Deterioration in Naturally Aging Rats.’ (Elkattawy, et al., 2022)
“Vit. K2 improved functional performance, reduced social anxiety, depressive-like behavior, and enhanced memory performance with concomitant preservation of hippocampal and cerebral cortex tyrosine hydroxylase expression. Biochemically, Vit. K2 administration restored oxidative-anti-oxidative homeostasis in the brain. Vit. K2 modulated inflammatory signaling, as evidenced by suppression in the brain of NLRP3, caspase-1, Il-1β, TNFα, IL-6, and CD68 expression. Concomitantly, histopathological examination revealed consistent hippocampal and cerebral cortex improvement. Thus, it can be inferred that Vit K2 can slow down age-related changes in the brain associated with modulation of NLRP3/caspase-1/Nrf-2 signaling.” (Elkattawy, et al., 2022)
Woot, there it is… A 30 mg/kg dose for a lab rat would be about 15 mg as a lab rat may weigh around a half a kilogram. The human equivalent dose for a 70 kg person (~ 150 pounds) would be ~ 700 mg or a safety range from 200 mg - 1100 mg per day. The experimental dose was given 5 times a week ongoing from 3 months, which is teen/early adulthood in a rat’s lifespan, through 2 years old which is towards the end of a rat’s lifespan, which is typically 2-4 years.
The equivalent dose would be ~ 15 mg times kilograms body weight would be 1050 mg (1.05 grams) per day, five times a week, for a 70 kg person. (secondscight.com/utilities/webapp)
What can humans buy for a vitamin K2 dose?
Life Extension offers a ‘high dose’ Mega Vitamin K2 product with 45 mg of K2 (45000 mcg). $23.40/30 capsules (lifeextension.com) I have used this product, but it has a gelatin capsule which I am suspicious might be a glyphosate source.
Practically every other vitamin K2 product that I have looked at available for sale is in micrograms, a thousandth smaller amount. 100 mcg product, $20.96/365 capsules, (bulksupplements.com) Seems like a good deal? A full year’s supply? 365 x 100 mcg = 36500 mcg = 36.5 mg → There is less vitamin K2 in the entire bottle than in one capsule of the Life Extension product. The bottle of Life Extension Mega Vitamin K2 contains 1350 mg of vitamin K2 or 1.35 grams.
Bulk Supplements does sell vitamin K2 as a powder - that would be the way to get a one gram dose. (bulksupplements.com)
I had already noticed this dosing discrepancy between doses used in animal-based studies on soft tissue calcification and those available for humans to purchase. Awesome results were being achieved with vitamin K2! But then I checked dosing and supplements available… seriously odd. Practically all available vitamin K2 supplements are in micrograms while the animal research used milligrams and the human dose equivalent, weight-based, might have been one gram per day.
To get one gram per day with the Life Extension product (45 mg), I would need to take 22 gelatin capsules per day. To get one gram/day with the Bulk Supplement product (100 mcg = 0.0001 gram), I would need to take 10 of them to get one milligram… and there is 1000 mg in a gram, so I would need to take 10 x 1000 to get one gram… I would need to take 10,000 capsules/day to get the one-gram equivalent dose to the animal-study that had showed such great results at slowing hippocampal damage during aging.
Math matters!
*For clarification - Yes, I think this means that the general population is being given far too little vitamin K2, especially when chronic health issues are involved. The dosing calculator website secondscight.com/utilities/webapp is for setting up human clinical trials - designing the dosing based on previous animal studies that showed safety and efficacy. If I were to design a crossover trial with people and their lab results being compared to themselves, from before the study and later on during and at the end to assess success, then dosing would be zero during an initial baseline testing phase, and then 200 mg, 700 mg and 1100 mg. Each person might be assigned to one experimental dose, or in a crossover trial over time, there might be a 200 mg dosing period of months - see if lab results changed from baseline, then a 700 mg dosing period of months - check labs, and then an 1100 mg dosing period of months.
Months instead of weeks because nature takes some time. The animal study gave the higher vitamin K2 to the animals for 17 months - most of their adult lifespan. Three months of a human’s life on average would be about 1.1% of their life if they lived to age 70. If rats lived three years on average, 17 months would be 47.2% of their lifespan.
Trying to reverse dementia damage starting at age 65 is kind of late compared to the encouraging results of the animal study. The average human diet should have more vitamin K2 is the take home point, and a supplement of 200 mg might be the low end to use rather than 45 mg or a measly 100 mcg, 0.1 mg.
**People on anti-coagulant therapy are instructed to reduce vitamin K intake. I have a long post on Hypercoagulability factors and diet, available as a linked document too (Substack) I see that was the beginning of my Nrf2 promoting foods and supplements journey, which turn out to also be NF-kB/TNF alpha inhibitors because the two pathways share a circadian clock protein - night shift and day shift proteins which modern life tends to tip towards the day shift, inflammatory NF-kB. Chimeric spike seems to be reducing Nrf2, due to the ankyrin binding domain. See the Part 4 Ototoxicity post for more on that topic.
*This was one small section in the Part 4 Ototoxicity post which has a ton more highly important info about chimeric spike effects… but the vitamin K2 story seems like much older shenanigans - PubMed goes blank around 1970 on K2 and the inner ear.
Mitochondria… vitamin K2 is so critical because it is a mitochondrial electron chain cofactor equivalent to CoQ10’s role.
“Vitamin K2 is way more important than anyone realizes It is actually used as apart of mitochondrial metabolism, in a similar manner to that of Coenzyme Q 10. Due to this it has an incredible range of beneficial properties, and may even be more effective than supplementing CoQ” (x.com/Outdoctrination)
*vitamin K2 is also called MK or MK-7 - Menaquinone-7 (MK-7)
Disclaimer: This information is being shared for educational purposes within the guidelines of Fair Use and is not intended to provide individual health care guidance.
Very interesting. I've been taking 10,000 iu of D3 in the wintertime along with 100 mcg of K2. If I'm understanding this correctly, I should be taking much more K2 to avoid calcification of soft tissues.
Is there a natural food source of Vit K2?