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Vitamin K deficiency could put women at risk to osteoporosis
12/Oct/2006: A new study carried out by researchers at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, has found that vitamin K deficiency could increase the risk of osteoporosis in women. Osteoporosis is a disease of bone in which the bone mineral density (BMD) is reduced, affecting the bone microarchitecture, making them more susceptible to fracture.
Vitamin K is essential to make a noncollagenous protein found in bone and dentin, called Osteocalcin, fully functional. Osteocalcin levels in the serum determine the bone mineral density.
Researchers at the University of Michigan School of Nursing studied a group of healthy young and middle-aged women, analyzing their dietary intake and bone mineral density at the lumbar spine and hip.
They found that declining estrogen levels in women impairs the vitamin K function, which in turn affects the bone mineral density. The study also found that the diet of most of the women in the study group, lacked sufficient amounts of vitamin K, which made them prone to bone loss even before the onset of menopause.
Vitamin K is found in most of the vitamin supplements and also in green vegetables, leafy vegetables and vegetable oils. Women should supplement their diet with green and leafy vegetables, to increase the intake of vitamin K, especially in early menopause, in order to reduce the risk of osteoporosis at a later age. Researchers are currently analyzing whether vitamin K supplementation could help in controlling osteoporosis in women.
The findings of this study appear in the September/October issue of the journal ‘Menopause’.
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