Vitamin K2 - Another Secret Weapon to Fight COVID

Vitamin K2 - Your Secret Weapon Against COVID

Did you know that Japan got COVID before the US? Did you know that they have had a total of a little over 2,000 deaths, so far? Total. In America, we are having some 2,000 deaths per day. What gives? Yes, the Japanese are very conscious about infecting others and wear masks with great discipline. But that's not all. Their infection rate also tracks a curious habit: their consumption of natto. In Iwate prefecture, the NE part of Japan around the Fukushima power plant there has been very low COVID rates. In fact, the Japanese have noted that fact and there has been natto hoarding in Japan and more sober minds have downplayed the reality of this observation.

Ok, just what it natto? It is a uniquely Japanese food, eaten mostly for breakfast made from fermented soybeans. Its flavor has not caught on elsewhere but natto has a huge amount of Vitamin K2 in it, higher than in any other food source. And the probiotic effect of the bacillus subtilis bacteria and makes the natto has its own very powerful antiviral effect. We naturally get K2 from animals that eat grass. That means the American K2 supply declined dramatically back in the 1950s when American agriculture moved animals off of green pastures onto feedlots. K2 is very, very different from K1. K1 is all about blood clotting. K2 activates two critical proteins: osteocalcin in bone, the protein that binds calcium into bone, and Matrix GLA protein, the protein that binds calcium OUT of arteries. Would it surprise you that you can trace K2 consumption in Japan by rate of bone fracture and longevity overall? Yup, yup.

So, follow this thread. Did you know that folks dying of COVID have very high levels of un-activated Matrix GLA protein in their blood, a deficiency that clears up with K2 administration? And can you follow that the COVID attack on your lungs uses up a lot of K2 trying to keep the cells in your lungs alive, which doesn't work without the K2? This would tie into the observation in Japan that explains part of why the Japanese have dodged the COVID bullet by 99%! I like 99%. Is it proof? Hardly. Observational studies are just that. But is it toxic? Nope. It is just food and happens to be a food that has been inadvertently removed from our natural food supply by our agricultural methods. We should be eating grass raised animals, not corn and bean fed critters. We have a runaway epidemic of osteoporosis and heart disease: the two consequences of low K2. And now we have a runaway epidemic of COVID.

There is something unique about K2 and Vitamin D. They are synergistic. There continues to be confusion in the literature about K1 (all about clotting) and K2, (all about calcium metabolism). They are really not the same. They have dramatically different spheres of biological activity. We just don't have proof by the standards of modern pharmacotherapy. But those standards were designed to test the use of foreign chemicals in the human body. COVID may be an infection that is invading the human species that has been uniquely prepped by modern agriculture to be vulnerable. There is a company called Kappa Bioscience in Norway that is taking the topic head-on and selling K2 and D together. Africa, as a continent, has lots of sunshine (Vitamin D) and much more K2 intake as they eat animals that eat green plants instead of corn and beans. Their rate of COVID has been surprisingly lower. And then there are those darn Japanese with their much, much lower rate, guzzling natto for breakfast every morning. Do we need to do a randomized controlled trial on natto? Well, after you taste it, you will say yes.

www. What will Work for me? I bought some natto and have tasted it. Whew, it's quite an experience. You might not appreciate the flavor until you try it yourself. So I immediately ordered more K2 as a regular supplement. I already take it for my bones and coronary arteries. You should make a point of getting K2 yourself. Order it off the internet. Buy grass raised animal products. Wear a mask and wash your hands. We'll make it, maybe without the natto. I'm eagerly waiting to see the results of a good study.

References: Neutraceutical Research,Int Jr Infect Disease, British Journal of Nutrition, Immunity and aging, NYrture, International Jr Endocrinology,

Pop Quiz

1. What is K2?                Answer: an altered form of K made in animal guts after they eat K1, found in green plants. It is also made by a bacteria called Bacillus subtilis found in wheat straw.

2. What is natto?                           Answer: the highest food source of K2 made by fermenting soybeans in moist wheat straw. The northern Japanese eat it with enthusiasm. The southern Japanese think the northerners are a bit daft.  (1000 times what is in sauer kraut, 100 times most other K2 foods)

3. What does K2 do?                 Answer: It activates two vital proteins: one, osteocalcin, binds calcium into bone. The other, Matrix GLA protein, binds calcium out of arteries.  There must be many other actions in layers beyond current research.  

4. What happens when you combine Vitamin D and Vitamin K2?                       Answer: you get a synergetic effect. Both are enhanced. And you appear to get lower rates of COVID by observational studies.

5. How can we prove it?                                Answer: Despite the urgency, this is research on the fly but is not proof. Proof really comes down to comparing two randomized groups, over time, doing different behaviors. In nutrition, we do accept large enough population studies as guidelines, but it always remains open for controversy until it is studied prospectively, randomly, and long enough.