Vitamin K - a role in bone health

24/02/2003-Women with a low vitamin K intake may be at increased risk of bone fractures, suggests research in this month's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Low dietary vitamin K intake has been associated with an increased risk of hip fracture in men and women but the team from the US Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston noted that there is little data on the association between dietary vitamin K intake and bone mineral density (BMD).

The researchers studied self-reported dietary vitamin K intake and measured BMD of the hip and spine in just over 1100 men and almost 1500 women aged 29 to 86 years old.
One of the most common forms of vitamin K is phylloquinone, which is found in some oils, especially soybean oil, and in dark-green vegetables such as spinach and broccoli.