Yes, vitamin K2 is important for bone health and cardiovascular health but did you know it is also essential for promoting healthy, youthful skin?
If you’re seeking vitamins to prevent wrinkles and premature aging and improve the overall texture and elasticity of your skin, keep reading. Vitamin K2 is it!
Your body needs both K1 and K2, but the food you eat provides you with ample K1. Most supplements on the market today are in vitamin K1 form and abandon K2 as an essential nutrient. K2, on the other hand, is more readily found in pasture raised livestock and fermented foods, which generally are not part of the Standard American Diet. Americans are not K1 deficient, but many are K2 deficient--and this deficiency might be visible on your face!
While symptoms of low levels of vitamin K1 are easily detected (bruising, nose bleeds, poor wound healing, heavy menstrual periods, GI bleeds, blood in urine) a vitamin K2 deficiency is mostly silent. A clue, though, might be looking back at you from that mirror!
Chronic conditions that interfere with your gut’s absorption rate, chemotherapy, dialysis patients and others are at risk of malnutrition. Certain pharmaceuticals also increase your chances of being K2-deficient. These medications include antibiotics, antacids, statins and anti-seizure drugs.
Antibiotics are a major culprit since your gut microbiome serves as assistants in producing K2. Long-term antibiotic use can affect your delicate microbiome in the small intestine, creating K2-deficiency.
Although our bodies are able to convert some vitamin K1 into vitamin K2, it's just not enough! Obtaining your K2 from a direct source, such as through food or supplementation, has greater benefit.
Working alongside vitamin D, K2 ensures that calcium gets to the right places--your bones and teeth and keeps it from crowding soft tissues and vessels where it can result in serious issues, such as atherosclerosis. Those soft tissues, though, include your face!
Calcium can also wind up in your skin, resulting in the loss of smoothness and elasticity commonly seen with aging. K2, however, keeps calcium away from the elastic tissue of your skin, supporting greater blood circulation and the promotion of healthy elastin, the essential intrinsic protein responsible for supple, younger looking skin.
This is backed by research. In a study examining participants with a premature aging genetic disorder, elastin calcification was discovered to be the result of low vitamin K2, which is responsible for activating what is known as matrix-GLA protein. It is this protein, which is released by the skin, which supports healthy, vibrant and youthful elastin.
It’s interesting that bone health and skin wrinkling have been noted in research. A 2011 Yale University study, for example, linked premature skin wrinkling to lower bone density, which may show the connection between calcium distribution, skin elasticity and bone mass. Other studies around the world, such as those examining elderly Japanese populations show that diets high in K2 may be associated with anti-aging properties, demonstrating that those who consume fermented foods rich in vitamin K2 have fewer wrinkles.
Since vitamin K2 activates the matrix proteins which keep calcium out of elastin fibers, K2 is the CEO of skin smoothness. Interestingly, even obtaining enough K2 but not being able to properly metabolize and utilize it may result in severe premature skin wrinkling and sagging, according to research.
The fat soluble vitamins work in synergy. It’s important to note that vitamin A and D are also vital to skin health, and they can’t work effectively without the help of K2. Acne, for example, can be the result of vitamin A deficiency, since vitamin A is required for optimal skin cell proliferation. Vitamin A, however, cannot perform its functions without the guidance of K2.
Foods high in vitamin K2 include animal-based products--grass fed organic meats, pasture raised eggs, organ meats and fermented foods. Fermented foods such as kimchi are high in K2 due to the good bacteria’s natural production of it! Nature knows!
Our Vegan D3 + K2 Full Spectrum is unique because we utilize a sustainably harvested source of cholecalciferol derived entirely from lichen (a vegan source of vitamin D3). This product offers 3-IN-1-SUPPORT using vitamin D3 along with two essential forms of K2 (MK-4 + MK-7). Now with micellized vitamin D3 for optimal absorption!
Fat soluble vitamins work synergistically. Our Vegan ADK consists of two forms of micellized vitamin A (palmitate and beta carotene), VEGAN Vitamin D3 along with two essential forms of K2 (MK-4 + MK-7). Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, while Vitamin K2 helps the body ensure that calcium is properly utilized (i.e., that it is ending up in the bones and not in the heart and blood vessels). Vitamin K2 keeps calcium in bones and teeth and out of soft tissues--and now, as you know-- also supports your skin!
Sources:
https://www.drstevenlin.com/vitamin-k2-benefits/
https://chriskresser.com/nutrition-for-healthy-skin-silica-niacin-vitamin-k2-and-probiotics/
https://www.healthista.com/the-best-anti-ageing-supplement-you-need/
https://naturalfactors.com/en-ca/products/why-vitamin-k2/
https://www.toyourhealth.com/mpacms/tyh/article.php?id=2452
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17724449
https://news.yale.edu/2011/06/06/not-just-skin-and-bones-wrinkles-could-predict-women-s-bone-fracture-risk
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17724449