Vitamin K, Osteoporosis, And Postmenopausal Women
Editor's ChoiceMain Category: Bones / Orthopedics
Also Included In: Menopause; Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 14 Oct 2008 - 0:00 PDT
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According to a new study published in the open-access journal PLoS Medicine, postmenopausal women with osteopenia did not prevent age-related bone mineral density (BMD) decline after taking a daily high dose supplement of vitamin K1. However, Angela Cheung (University of Toronto) and colleagues also found that vitamin K1 may offer protection against fracture and cancer in these women. These findings come from a randomized controlled study called the "Evaluate the Clinical use of vitamin K Supplementation in Postmenopausal Women with Osteopenia" (ECKO) trial.
Ten million people in the US have the bone disease osteoporosis, and 18 million have osteopenia - a milder precursor to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is most common in women after menopause, but it can also inflict men.
The evaluation consisted of 440 postmenopausal women with osteopenia who were randomly assigned to receive either 5 mg of vitamin K1 or a placebo every day for two years. The researchers were also able to measure the long-term effects of vitamin K supplements from 261 of theses women who continued their treatment for two additional years.
Cheung and colleagues found no significant difference in measurements of lower back and hip BMD decline, after two years and after four years, between the vitamin K and placebo groups.
However, compared to placebo group women, women who took vitamin K over the four-year period had fewer fractures (9 vs. 20 women) and fewer cancer incidences (3 vs. 12 women). The researchers note that women tolerated the Vitamin K supplements quite well during the four-year period and there were no significant difference in adverse health effects between the treatment and placebo groups. Since the study was not designed to measure the effect on fractures or cancer (and the numbers were small), the authors insist that these results be examined cautiously.
"Vitamin K1 supplementation at a daily dose of 5 mg does not protect against age-related decreases in BMD, but may reduce the incidence of fractures and cancers in postmenopausal women with osteopenia. Additional studies need to be conducted to understand the potential mechanisms behind these observations. Before high-dose vitamin K1 supplementation can be recommended for general use, further randomized controlled trials have to be done to confirm these findings," conclude the authors.
Vitamin K supplementation in postmenopausal women with osteopenia (ECKO Trial): A randomized controlled trial
Cheung AM, Tile L, Lee Y, Tomlinson G, Hawker G, et al.
PLoS Medicine (2008). 5(10): e196.
doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050196
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About PLoS Medicine
PLoS Medicine is an open access, freely available international medical journal. It publishes original research that enhances our understanding of human health and disease, together with commentary and analysis of important global health issues. For more information, visit http://www.plosmedicine.org
About the Public Library of Science
The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org
Written by: Peter M Crosta
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Biophysical Semeiotic Constitution And Its Inherited Real Risk
posted by Sergio Stagnaro MD on 14 Oct 2008 at 9:54 amSirs,
to recognize women (and men, of course!) at high risk of osteoporosis we need first of all a bedside method, unfortunately mainly overlooked, rapidly applicable rapidly on a very large scale, i.e. a method that relies on the assessment of “osteoporotic constitution” and inherited real risk of osteoporosis, based on microvascular remodelling, characterized by the newborn-pathological, type I, subtype (b), nonspecific, Endoarteriolar Blocking Devices described previously [1-5].
Clinical experience established over 51 years has allowed me to suggest such a clinical method as well as an original theory of the pathogenesis of osteoporosis as illustrated in previous papers (1, 3). A congenital functional mitochondrial cytopathology that I called Congenital Acidosic Enzyme-Metabolic Histangiopathy (CAEMH) [2, 6] also represents the conditio sine qua non of osteoporosis.
Moreover, all patients affected by impairment of collagen metabolism of whatever nature or location, including perivascular GAG, I found to be positive for this condition. Consequently, over the past 51 years, the mitochondrially-derived pathologies I have examined were or are CAEMH-altered cells, even from the functional viewpoint, due to low endocellular free energy. These become asocial elements, possibly causing the most common human disorders, including diabetes and cancer (2-6).
Interestingly, with the aid of the Biophysical Semiotics that I described previously (Bibliography in my website: http://www.semeioticabiofisica.it), doctors can easily recognize the inherited real risk of osteoporosis at the bedside and quantify it; it is always present in CAEMH-positive individuals, as well as in overt osteoporosis. Indeed, the original semiotics also allows doctors to diagnose osteoporosis at an early stage, i.e. osteoporotic constitution (ibidem). Biophysical Semeiotics, although very useful at the bedside, is unfortunately mainly overlooked. In a few words, from the practical viewpoint: in health, “mean” digital pressure, applied e.g. to the lumbar or caudal vertebrae (= spinal process), brings about the Aspecific Gastric Reflex after a latency of 8 s. (In the stomach both fundus and body are dilated, while the antral-pyloric region contracts). Interestingly, bone “preconditioning” (the doctor performs a second examination after exactly 5 s) brings about a favorable latency time: 16 sec. In contrast, in cases of osteoporotic constitution, real risk or osteoporosis, the basal latency time is < 8 s, the shortfall depending on the severity of the underlying disorder. Bone preconditioning appears to be pathological, i.e. shorter than the basal value. (http://www.semeioticabiofisica.it/Documenti/Eng/Precondizionamento%20semeiotico_eng.doc).
Interestingly Quantum Biophysical Semeiotics allows doctors to exclude osteoporotic constitution, and thus overt osteoporosis, in only one second, even in individuals far away ... from physicians, at the condition that they are comunicating via phone (7).
1) Stagnaro-Neri M, Stagnaro S: Diagnosi Clinica Precoce dell’Osteoporosi .Medlinecon la Percussione Ascoltata. Clin Ter 1991, 137:21 -27.
2) Stagnaro S, Stagnaro-Neri M: Una patologia mitocondriale ignorata: la Istangiopatia Congenita Acidosica Enzimo-Metabolica. Gazz Med It Arch Sci Med 149:67.
3) Stagnaro S, Stagnaro-Neri M: Le Costituzioni Semeiotico-Biofisiche.Strumento clinico fondamentale per la prevenzione primaria e la definizione della Single Patient Based Medicine. Roma: Ediz. Travel Factory; 2004. http://www.travelfactory.it/semeiotica_biofisica.htm
4) Stagnaro S., Stagnaro-Neri M. Single Patient Based Medicine.La Medicina Basata sul Singolo Paziente: Nuove Indicazioni della Melatonina. Ed. Travel Factory, Roma, 2005. http://www.travelfactory.it/libro_singlepatientbased.htm
5) Stagnaro S: Newborne-pathological Endoarteriolar Blocking Devices in Diabetic and Dislipidaemic Constitution and Diabetes Primary Prevention. Lancet 2007, March 06. Pg 1. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607603316/comments?totalcomments=1
6) Stagnaro S, West PJ, Hu FB, Manson JE, Willett WC: Diet and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes. N Engl J Med 2002, 346:297-298. (Medlin)
7) SEMIOTICA BIOFISICA QUANTISTICA. Scienza&Conoscenza. 8-10-2008
http://www.scienzaeconoscenza.it/articolo.php?id=21568
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