Much More K2 Stops Bone Loss

Much Higher Doses of K2 CURES Osteoporosis

Breaking bones is one of the great dangers of aging. One in five men and one in three women over age 50 will do so. Osteopenia is present in all of us. What's going on? We shouldn't be here. And if that's the case, how did we get here? If we understand that, we can fix it.

Well, great apes never get fractures. Ever. Studies showing their bones show that their spinal column bones (the most common fracture in humans) are much, much denser. Ok, so to stand up and run, we had to get lighter and we gave up some weight in bone density in our spinal column. Now look at hunter-gatherers from 150,000 years ago, 7,000 years ago, and farmers 700 years ago. There has been a steady decline. But even farmers 700 years ago beat the pants off us, 20th-century sedentary humans. Very active modern humans maintain good bone strength, to some degree, but there is something else.

Two engines are running that are robbing us, besides loss of activity (the couch in front of the TV for Packer games). Engine number one is that our diet has switched from alkalinity to acidity. Hunter-gatherers eat mostly raw plants with an occasional animal. No grains, no sugar. Their animals are all raised on plants, not grains. Their urine was alkaline. With civilization comes the domestication of animals and animal products in our diet. Animal products have more sulfur-containing amino acids and result in acidic urine. Grains are also slightly acidic. With the industrial revolution and our subsequent wealth, we eat more animal and processed white flour. The average American's urinary pH is 5.5. Apes are pH 8.0. Your bones, chock full of bicarbonate give some up to try and help your neutralize all that extra acid. In a synopsis of over 500 studies on osteoporosis, eating more vegetables and adopting an "alkaline life style" is the most effective strategy we know to mitigate osteoporosis. (Building Bone Vitality by Amy Joy Lanou)

But there is a more insidious engine going on. We eat animals that are raised on corn and beans, not grass. Grass-raised animals have much higher K2 in them. The loss of K2 in our diet since the 1950s is massive, on the order of 75-90%. K2 is the vitamin that activates osteocalcin and makes it able to bind calcium into bone.

The Japanese are much more attuned to K2 and have been measuring it and monitoring its effect on osteoporosis. Their paper in Nutrients, published in 2014 is what caught my eye. With 45 mg a day of MK4 (100 times the dose I've been giving folks), and a touch of calcium most men stopped bone loss completely. Fractures dropped from 45 to 14! (Those ancient Japanese still got old and tipsy and fell, just with many, many fewer fractures.)

Now, add that to the COMB study from Canada (my favorite), where 1 mg of K2 was used and we may be at the final solution. Calcium is controversial because too much ends up with more heart disease. The COMB study emphasized magnesium instead, in addition to Vitamin D, Fish Oil, and strontium.

The Japanese sort of prove it. Their love of natto (the highest food source of K2) is another indicator of high K2 intake and osteoporosis. The northern Japanese snarf down natto with enthusiasm and don't break their bones. Lots and lots of K2. Get it?

(We didn't get to boron, another element grass raised animals eat and we don't have in our diet anymore: it also helps bone.)

Now, the K vitamins have a conflict with coumadin and blood thinners. K2 is a different animal from K1 which is the blood-clotting vitamin, but there is some overlap. If you are a blood thinner candidate, all this takes some thoughtful supervision.

www.What will work for me. It's all in front of us. If we just think through this problem we can fix it. Exercise, yes, we now know that. 10k a day will do it. Dance, polka, jog, walk, rake leaves, snowshoe: just do it. Alkalize yourself with more vegetables, less cheese, and potassium citrate if you must (4 grams-6 grams a day if you are an acid eater). And add K2 at 45 mg a day. Life Extension sells it called BONE RESTORE ELITE. I bought a 12 pack of natto and Bone Restore. I'm going to be on the Bone Restore for the rest of my life. And grass raised animal, in great moderation. And sneak in some boron, please. Please. 3 mg a day. And if you are on coumadin, get supervised in how to navigate all this.

References: Nutrients, Science Daily, PNAS, J Bone and Mineral Metab, Jr Bone Miner Metab, Jr Envir and Public Health, NYrture, IMCJ,

Pop Quiz

1. What does K2 do? Answer: it activates the calcium-binding protein called osteocalcin. Without it, you don't add it to your bone. We can now measure "unactivated osteocalcin" in folks' blood that gets better instantly with K2.

2. Where do we get K2? Answer: With a healthy gut, our gut bacteria make it or we get it from animals that eat grass. If you would eat more vegetables, your gut would also make a teeny bit too. Problem is, our animals don't get grass. Geese eat a lot of grass. Wild geese are loaded with K2. (Shoot some, would ya?)

3. Who eats the most K2 on this planet? Answer: The natto-crazy Japanese, and they have less osteoporosis.

4. Does K2 work all by itself? Answer: No, nothing in the body works in isolation. The COMB study proves that.

5. What else do I need to do to keep my bones strong? Answer: Exercise, boron, vegetables, and something to alkalize, if needed: potassium citrate will do.